Religious NGOs in the United Nations: Mediators or Polarisers?
No longer limited within national boundaries, the de-privatization of religion is becoming a strong trend in transnational civil society. As such, international relations scholars have already begun to speak of the emergence of a post-secular era.
The engagement and impact of religious actors
One indication of the growing visibility of religion in the public realm is the increasing number of explicitly religious non-governmental organizations (RNGOs) involved with international organizations in a wide array of policy fields. This project investigates the behavior of RNGOs within the United Nations system. Past research on these actors' engagement with global governance has either been based on single case studies or on quantitative analyses, which have demonstrated that activism on the part of RNGOs within global governance institutions is often motivated by religious conceptions of justice. This may have ambivalent outcomes: religious actors can either act as mediators of contested policy areas or contribute to polarizations.
The role of RNGOs in the existing debate
This project was designed as a qualitative comparative study that set out to systematically analyze this variance. It investigated the behavior of RNGOs over the course of time and in policy areas under debate in the UN. This includes issues such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, debates about women’s reproductive rights, the International Criminal Court, and religious freedom and defamation. It considered the scope of actors, their organizational structures and resources, and their normative, religiously grounded positions.
This project aimed to advance empirical and theoretical research about religious actors within international organizations and identified the associated risks as well as potentials and resources that religious participation may have brought to just peace governance.
- Beinlich, Ann-Kristin
- Braungart, Clara
- Religion and the United Nations | 2021
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2021): Religion and the United Nations, in: Haynes, Jeffrey (ed.), Handbook on Religion and International Relations, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 246–258, www.e-elgar.com/(...).
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- Transnationale religiöse Akteure am Beispiel der palästinensischen Boykott-Kampagne gegen Israel | 2019
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2019): Transnationale religiöse Akteure am Beispiel der palästinensischen Boykott-Kampagne gegen Israel, in: Werker, Ines-Jacqueline/Dembinski, Matthias (Hg.), Gerechter Frieden jenseits des demokratischen Rechtsstaates, (Bd. Politisch-ethische Herausforderungen), Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 97–126.
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- Preventing a Global Blasphemy Law: Religious NGOs at the UN and the 'Defamation of Religions' Campaign | 2019
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2019): Preventing a Global Blasphemy Law: Religious NGOs at the UN and the 'Defamation of Religions' Campaign, in: Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia/Wolf, Klaus Dieter (eds), Religious NGOs at the United Nations: Polarizers or Mediators?, Milton Park, New York NY: Routledge, 148–166.
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- Religious NGOs at the UN: a quantitative overview | 2019
Beinlich, Ann-Kristin / Braungart, Clara (2019): Religious NGOs at the UN: a quantitative overview, in: Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia/Wolf, Klaus Dieter (eds), Religious NGOs at the United Nations: Polarizers or Mediators?, Milton Park, New York NY: Routledge, 26-46.
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- Religious NGOs and the quest for a binding treaty on business and human rights | 2019
Perov, Olga / Coni-Zimmer, Melanie (2019): Religious NGOs and the quest for a binding treaty on business and human rights, in: Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia/Wolf, Klaus Dieter (eds), Religious NGOs at the United Nations: Polarizers or Mediators?, Milton Park, New York NY: Routledge, 106–125.
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- Religious NGOs at the United Nations: Polarizers or Mediators? | 2019
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia / Wolf, Klaus Dieter (eds), (2019): Religious NGOs at the United Nations: Polarizers or Mediators?, Milton Park, New York NY: Routledge.
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- Conclusions | 2019
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia / Wolf, Klaus Dieter (2019): Conclusions. Religious NGOs: Mediators Between Dinstictiveness and Alignment, in: Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia/Wolf, Klaus Dieter (eds), Religious NGOs at the United Nations: Polarizers or Mediators?, Milton Park, New York NY: Routledge, 184–194.
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- Introduction: Religious NGOs at the United Nations: Polarizers or Mediators? | 2019
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2019): Introduction: Religious NGOs at the United Nations: Polarizers or Mediators?, in: Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia/Wolf, Klaus Dieter (eds), Religious NGOs at the United Nations: Polarizers or Mediators?, Milton Park, New York NY: Routledge, 1–25.
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- Reconciliation versus punishment: religious NGOs and the International Criminal Court | 2019
Braungart, Clara (2019): Reconciliation versus punishment: religious NGOs and the International Criminal Court, in: Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia/Wolf, Klaus Dieter (eds), Religious NGOs at the United Nations: Polarizers or Mediators?, Milton Park, New York NY: Routledge, 126-147.
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- The Role of Religion in Struggles for Global Justice | 2018
Smith, Peter J. / Glaab, Katharina / Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia / Smythe, Elizabeth (eds), (2018): The Role of Religion in Struggles for Global Justice. Faith in Justice?, Milton Park: Routledge, Online.
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- Conclusion | 2018
Smith, Peter J. / Glaab, Katharina / Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia / Smythe, Elizabeth (2018): Conclusion, in: Smith, Peter J./Glaab, Katharina/Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia/Smythe, Elizabeth (eds), The Role of Religion in Struggles for Global Justice. Faith in Justice?, Milton Park: Routledge.
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- Religion und Internationale Politik | 2017
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2017): Religion und Internationale Politik, in: Sauer, Frank/Masala, Carlo (Hg.), Handbuch Internationale Beziehungen, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, https://www.springer.com/de/(...).
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- Faith in Justice? The Role of Religion in Struggles for Global Justice | 2017
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia / Glaab, Katharina / Smith, Peter J. / Smythe, Elizabeth (eds), (2017): Faith in Justice? The Role of Religion in Struggles for Global Justice, Globalizations (Special Issue), 14 (7), http://www.tandfonline.com/(...).
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- Protecting Religion: Muslim Opposition and Dissidence against Western Representations of Islam | 2017
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2017): Protecting Religion: Muslim Opposition and Dissidence against Western Representations of Islam, in: Gertheiss, Svenja/Herr, Stefanie/Wolf, Klaus Dieter/Wunderlich, Carmen (eds), Resistance and Change in World Politics. International Dissidence, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 187–213, https://www.palgrave.com/(...).
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- Claiming Justice for Israel/Palestine: The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Campaign and Christian Organizations | 2017
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2017): Claiming Justice for Israel/Palestine: The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Campaign and Christian Organizations, in: Globalizations, 1-16, DOI: 10.1080/14747731.2017.1310463.
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- Religious Justifications for an Overlapping Consensus on Palestinian Refugees' Human Rights | 2016
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2016): Religious Justifications for an Overlapping Consensus on Palestinian Refugees' Human Rights, in: Mavelli, Luca/Wilson, Erin (eds), The Refugee Crisis and Religion. Secularism, Security, and Hospitality in Question, London: Rowman & Littlefield, 187-204.
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- Substanziell, funktional, oder gar nicht? | 2016
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2016): Substanziell, funktional, oder gar nicht? Der Religionsbegriff in der Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, in: Zeitschrift für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, 4. Jahrgang, Sonderband(1), 29-59.
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- Which Gets Protection – Belief or Believer? | 2015
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2015): Which Gets Protection – Belief or Believer? The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Campaign against the ‚Defamation of Religions‘, PRIF Report No. 136, Frankfurt/M.
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- Rezension zu "Baumann, Marcel M. 2013. Kirchliche Beiträge zur nachhaltigen Friedenskonsolidierung in Post-Konflikt-Gesellschaften: Eine Literaturstudie" | 2014
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2014): Rezension zu "Baumann, Marcel M. 2013. Kirchliche Beiträge zur nachhaltigen Friedenskonsolidierung in Post-Konflikt-Gesellschaften: Eine Literaturstudie", in: Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, 2, DOI: 10.1007/s12286-014-0197-6.
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- The Religious as Political and the Political as Religious | 2014
May, Samantha / Wilson, Erin K. / Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia / Sheikh, Faiz (2014): The Religious as Political and the Political as Religious. Globalisation, Post-Secularism and the Shifting Boundaries of the Sacred, in: Politics, Religion & Ideology, 15:3, 331-346, DOI: 10.1080/21567689.2014.948526.
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- The Religious as Political and the Political as Religious: the Blurring of Sacred and Secular in Contemporary International Relations | 2014
Wilson, Erin K. / Sheikh, Faiz / May, Samantha / Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (eds), (2014): The Religious as Political and the Political as Religious: the Blurring of Sacred and Secular in Contemporary International Relations. Politics, Religion & Ideology, Special Issue, 15(3), https://www.tandfonline.com/(...).
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- Religiöse Akteure als Beiträger zu Global Governance | 2014
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2014): Religiöse Akteure als Beiträger zu Global Governance, in: Werkner, Ines-Jacqueline/Hidalgo, Oliver (Hg.), Religionen - Global Player in der internationalen Politik?, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 14-32, https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783658049393.
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- Schutz der Religionen oder Schutz der Gläubigen? | 2014
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2014): Schutz der Religionen oder Schutz der Gläubigen? Die Organisation für islamische Zusammenarbeit und die Kampagne gegen die "Diffamierung von Religionen", HSFK-Report Nr. 12/2014, Frankfurt/M.
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- Religiöse Verschiedenheit: | 2011
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2011): Religiöse Verschiedenheit:. Herausforderung und Chance für das Weltregieren, in: Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia/Schörnig, Niklas/Wisotzki, Simone/Wolff, Jonas (Hg.), Auf dem Weg zu Just Peace Governance. Beiträge zum Auftakt des neuen Forschungsprogramms der HSFK, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 157-178.
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- Religiöse Akteure und die Opportunitätsstruktur der internationalen Beziehungen | 2010
Baumgart-Ochse, Claudia (2010): Religiöse Akteure und die Opportunitätsstruktur der internationalen Beziehungen, in: Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen, 17:1, 101-118, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40844187.
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