International Reporting Project - Seminar Highlights

Religious nationalism on the rise in South Asia

WASHINGTON, September 30, 2004 – Religion has emerged as a potent force in the politics of South Asia, former State Department official Walter Andersen told International Reporting Project (IRP) Fellows at a seminar today. Describing the region as a microcosm of global trends, Andersen predicted that religiously fueled conflict would increasingly influence political life around the world.

Andersen, who retired last year from the South Asian Division of the Office of Analysis for the Near East and South Asia, the intelligence arm of the State Department, is a professor of South Asian studies at SAIS. He cited numerous examples of growing religious politics in South Asia—including the Hindu nationalist movement in India, the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka, the power of Islamist parties in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and the rise of the former Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Paradoxically, Andersen said, modernization and the expansion of democracy—along with the increased influence of the state over citizen's lives—have only increased the political role of religion. In contrast to experts' predictions that globalization would spread secular values, modernization has disconnected populations from traditional cultures, leading them to seek identity in religion. As those in the developing world migrate from rural to urban areas en masse, he said, “People need new ways to look at themselves.” Religion provides a ready-made symbol.

Andersen said the spread of democracy in South Asia has also played a role in religious nationalism, encouraging groups to organize around religious identity to maximize their political clout. “In democracy,” Andersen said, “numbers count.” But fueled by a legacy of hatred in South Asia, religious nationalism can often turn on minorities—which present easy scapegoats whose persecution serves to mobilize the faithful.

Andersen also offered his views on Iraq and Afghanistan, noting that while the United States might need more troops to successfully rebuild both countries, the presence of non-Muslim soldiers on Muslim soil only fuels more anger. The optimal strategy in Iraq, he suggested, “is to get out as soon as possible and pray.” With religious nationalism increasingly playing a role in national identity, the United States will be forced to tread lightly.

“It's very American to think that these kinds of problems have solutions,” Andersen said. “I think they don't, and we're going to have to learn to live with that.”