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Two States in the Holy Land?: International Recognition and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2015

Nikola Mirilovic  and
David S. Siroky
Nikola Mirilovic*
Affiliation:
University of Central Florida
David S. Siroky*
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Nikola Mirilovic, Department of Political Science, Howard Phillips Hall, Room 302, University of Central Florida, 4297 Andromeda Loop North, Orlando, FL 32816. E-mail: [email protected]; or David S. Siroky, Department of Political Science, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 873902, Tempe, AZ 85287-3902. E-mail: [email protected]
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Nikola Mirilovic, Department of Political Science, Howard Phillips Hall, Room 302, University of Central Florida, 4297 Andromeda Loop North, Orlando, FL 32816. E-mail: [email protected]; or David S. Siroky, Department of Political Science, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 873902, Tempe, AZ 85287-3902. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

How do states decide to extend or withhold international recognition in cases of contested sovereignty? We focus on how religion shapes the incentives of states in making this decision, both at the domestic level through religious institutions and at the international level through religious affinities. States with transnational religious ties to the contested territory are more likely to extend recognition. At the domestic level, states that heavily regulate religion are less likely to extend international recognition. We test these conjectures, and examine others in the literature, with two new data sets on the international recognition of both Palestine and Israel and voting on the United Nations resolution to admit Palestine as a non-member state observer, combined with global data on religious regulation and religious affinities. In cases of contested sovereignty, the results provide support for these two mechanisms through which religion shapes foreign policy decisions about international recognition.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 263 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2015 

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