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Calvinism As a Precedent for Islamic Radicalism

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Calvinism As a Precedent for Islamic Radicalism Calvinism as a Precedent for Islamic Radicalism RICHARD MANSBACH Professor of Political Science Iowa State University CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL POLITICS FEATURES A marked revival of religious fundamental- ism, partly in reaction to globalization, its homogenization of political and social norms, and its corrosive impact on traditional institutions. These contemporary themes echo an earlier period when militant Protestants rose up against the politi- cal and religious establishments of their epoch. That revolutionary movement and its ensuing transnational violence were essential preconditions for the emergence of the territorial state and the modern state system. This institution, Europe's great- est political invention, has dominated global politics for more than three centuries. But contemporary fundamentalism challenges the independence and viability of the territorial state, heralding an end to the European era of global politics. The fracturing of Christianity produced a decentralized world of states; and the eflForts of Islamic militants to restore the ancient Caliphate threaten to destroy it. Fundamentalism, whether Islamic, Hindu, Jewish, or even Christian, insists that government reflect a literal reading of God's word as revealed in holy texts. Today's Islam is in the throes of a contest between militant and mainstream ele- ments, and one of the key differences between the contestants is their view of the relationship between religion and state. Militant Jihadists seek the revival of the medieval Islamic empire, or Caliphate, and the establishment of theocratic author- ity over the umma, the global Islamic community. This division echoes the recur- rent debate that, following the Prophet's death, divided Islam on the subject of whether rulership should be exercised according to pre-Islamic tribal custom or according to the Qu'ran and the Hadiths. By professing its aim of recreating the ancient Caliphate, al Qaeda declared RICHARD MANSBACH is a professor of political science at Iowa State University. He is the author of Gbbal Politics in a Changing World: A Reader, Remapping Global Politics: History's Revenge and Future Shock, and In Search of Theory: A New Paradigm for Global Politics. Copyright © 2006 by the Brown Journal of World Affairs WINTER/SPRING 2006 • VOLUME XII, ISSUE 2 RICHARD MANSBACH war on the territorially-grounded interstate system and the structure of global authority which draws its legitimacy from the concept of sovereignty— or, as James Caporaso expresses it, "the ideological justiftcation for ultimate control within a specific territory."' Radical Islam is thus making universalist claims and refusing to recognize the legitimacy of territorial limits and frontiers—a reflection of its no- madic roots and the legacy of the Arab conquerors. As Hitti argues, "the campaigns seem to have started as raids to provide new outlets for the warring spirit of the tribes now forbidden to engage in fratricidal combats, the objective in most cases being booty....But the machine...soon got beyond the control of those who built it...[The empire's] creation was therefore due less to early design than to the logic ... , , of immediate circum- Contemporary Islam is passing through ^^^^^^^,. ^ ^^ a stage that Christianity experienced liphate expanded, several centuries ago. the byproducts of "^^ ^^""'^"; ^''"' ^ to sanctton the search ror which—bloodshed and atrocities—were converts—a "militant poi- equally present in Europe's wars of religion. '^" ^« ">«' '^^"^ it^—and religious conviction assured Arab unity and fervor. Contemptuous of fixed territorial boundaries—an essential feature of modern sovereignty—the character of the Islamic polity is captured in Bozeman's metaphor of an "empire-in-motion," the "greatest of all caravans," in which dynamism was provided by "the quest of the end rather than the end itself, the moving rather than the arriving."^ Thus, "Islam owes its unparalleled expan- sion as a worldly power" to the idea of jihad.^ The sense of destiny provided by religion was reinforced by early triumphs and rapid forward movement that at once excited the spirit of nomadic warriors and promised the ultimate victory of Islam. In sum, in looking to the historical Khalifat Rashidun, the "rightly-guided Caliphate," and in seeking its restoration, militant Islam challenges the essential meaning of territorial organization as "rule over a distinct space, the subjects in that space, and the economy within that space."'^ Thus, recognizing that "the state system has been eroding," former U.S. secretary of state George P. Shultz defined the challenge posed by al Qaeda as that of "an extensive, internationally connected ideological movement dedicated to the destruction of our international system of cooperation and progress." The response: "First and foremost, we must shore up the state system. The world has worked for three centuries with the sovereign state as the basic operating entity, presumably accountable to its citizens and respon- sible for their well-being."^ THE BROWN JOURNAL OF WORLD AFFAIRS Calvinism as a Precedent for Islamic Radicalism In fact, the territorial state and the state system emerged from a lengthy period of religious turmoil in Europe in rhe sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. That epoch, in which Christianity resolved the relationship among government, society, and church, possessed several features that are now apparent within con- temporary Islam and its effort to come to terms with the state system. Among these features were conflict and schism within a dominant church between those de- manding a literal reading of scripture as the basis for rulership and those willing to settle for an alliance and division of labor between the church and the state. Also present was a transnational movement of fundamentalists bent on achieving theo- cratic rule led by charismatic, fanatical leaders prepared to use violence to achieve their goals. In this sense, contemporary Islam is passing through a stage that Chris- tianity experienced several centuries ago, the byproducts of which—bloodshed and atrocities—were similarly present in Europe's wars of religion. Calvinism, like early Islam, had wide appeal in part owing to the simplicity of its rituals and its egalitarianism in contrast to the corrupt and politicized practices of the Catholic Church.« Europe's Reformation brought about various forms of Christian fundamen- talism, efforts to establish theocratic rule, and a host of willing martyrs—also char- acteristics of contemporary jihadist movements. The Reformation also featured terrorism and counterterrorism, warfare unrestrained by legal conventions, and transnational proselytizing of fundamentalist principles. This paper briefly describes the key events by which Europe's religious wars fostered the evolution of the sovereign state and replaced a hierarchical structure headed by the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire with a "decentral- ized and anarchic"' system with quasi-sovereign princes enjoying supremacy within deflned political boundaries. It then examines the origins and evolution of Calvin- ism and the efforts of Calvinists in several settings to institute theocratic practices based on a literal reading of scripture. THE WESTPHALIAN MOMENT Europe's wars of religion, and especially the Thirty Years' War, settled (at least temporarily) the relationship between religion and the state. The evolution of the sovereign state accelerated during Europe's wars of religion, which followed the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The Peace of Augsburg in 1555, which ended war between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Schmalkaldic League, established peaceful coexistence between Catholics and Prot- estants and decreed an end to war based on religion among the polities of the Holy WINTER/SPRING 2006 • VOLUME xii, ISSUE 2 RICHARD MANSBACH Roman Empire. The agreement granted princes new powers under the principle of cuius regio, eius religio—he who governs the territory decides its religion. Thus, the prince alone, as sovereign, would determine the religion of his subjects, who could leave if unwilling to worship as their prince wished. This ruling was a major step toward the independence of these incipient states. However, Augsburg legitimated only Catholicism and Lutheranism. Lutheranism, while challenging Catholic supremacy, did not challenge the author- ity of secular princes and supported them vigorously during the 1524-25 Peas- ants' Revolt. Indeed, in his Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Luther sought the assistance of Germany's princes, alluding to the pros- pect of their independence from the Roman Church and to church property that might be theirs. "The pope," writes Luther, "never got by purchase such great properties that from his officia alone he can raise about a million ducats, not to mention the mines of treasure named above and the income of his lands. The emperor, said Luther, should "leave to temporal lords the ruling of lands and peoples, especially when no one has given them to him"; and it is God's will that the empire "be ruled by the Christian princes of Germany, regardless whether the pope stole it, or got it by robbery, or made it anew."'" The Augsburg settlement thus excluded the more radical Calvinism, whose legitimation had to await the end of the Thirty Years' War and the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. Nevertheless, the desire for a lasting settlement was so strong that the compromise peace, which satisfied no one completely
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