Government Restrictions on Religion and Violence

In January 2014, Pew released its annual report on restrictions on religion around the world. It showed that religious hostilities reached a six-year high in 2012, the year in-focus (See Religious Hostilities Reach Six-Year High).

One of the interesting aspect was comparing the countries that scored high on social hostilities based on religion index and countries that scored high on high restrictions on religion index in 2011 and 2012. One would think that an increase in restrictions on religion would lead to more social hostilities based on religion, resulting in same countries scoring high on both indices. Not true. Although, many countries score high in both  areas (understandable as religion is very important in these countries), it appears different factors drive the two indices.

Take a look at the top ten countries on the government restrictions on religion index in 2011 and 2012. What drives this index? It appears one of the main factors is a perception in the decision-making elites of these countries that they can defy international norms of religious liberty and equal rights for religious minorities with impunity.  There are three types of countries in this list:

1.     Countries that are too small. Elites might think that what they are doing will not be detected and discussed on international media i.e. they are flying under the radar. So, there would be no repercussions. Maldives and Eritrea are examples of such countries.

2.     Countries that are too important. Elites in these countries might think they can get away with murder because international community needs them. Saudi Arabia, China and Egypt  are examples of such countries. Afghanistan can also be added in this list because international community desperately wants to show Afghanistan as a success after wasting thousands of lives and spending billions of dollars.

3.     Countries that are not considered proper members of international community. They are pariah states, often under international sanctions. Iran, Syria and Somalia are examples of such countries. North Korea would also be in this list but it was not included in the Pew survey because of lack of reliable, verifiable data. 

Government Restrictions on Religion

	2011	2012
1	Egypt	Egypt
2	Saudi Arabia	China
3	Iran	Iran
4	China	Saudi Arabia
5	Indonesia	Indonesia
6	Maldives	Maldives
7	Afghanistan	Afghanistan
8	Algeria	Syria
9	Syria	Eritrea
10	Somalia	Somalia

One odd-man out is Indonesia. How come a nation which prides itself on its civic nationalism of Pancasila have so many religious restrictions? I think most of these restrictions are at the local level or third tier of government, below federation and provinces. The upper levels more or less continue to follow a less religious line. This may be the reason why such high restrictions on religion have not become an issue both inside and outside Indonesia.

Now, take a look at the top ten countries on the social hostilities based on religion index in 2011 and 2012.  What drives this index? Two main factors are state’s monopoly over use of means of violence and decision-makers’ lack of courage and/or subterfuge. Based on these factors, one can divide the countries in the list into two groups of countries, though it should be clear that these factors are not mutually exclusive.

1.     Countries where state does not have monopoly over usage of mean of violence. Violence by different types of groups is common and one of these groups are religious groups. Examples of such states are Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Palestinian Territories, Nigeria and many parts of India.

2. Countries where decision-maker do not have courage and maybe using subterfuge. Such decision-makers can again be divided into two types. Those who agree with discrimination and violence against religious minorities but cannot only say or support such action as this will go against their/state’s international image so they allow illegal actions to continue while publically condemning them. The other type of decision-makers are those who support equal rights of religious minorities but cannot openly act against majority religious groups because of fear of political backlash. Examples of countries that fall into this group are Israel, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and maybe Iraq.

Social Hostilities

	2011	2012
1	Pakistan	Pakistan
2	India	Afghanistan
3	Russia	India
4	Israel	Somalia
5	Indonesia	Israel
6	Iraq	Iraq
7	Nigeria	Palestinian Territories
8	Somalia	Syria
9	Sudan	Russia
10	Palestinian Territories	Indonesia

From religious nationalism aspect, while Iran and Saudi Arabia are high on the list in the government restriction on religion list, Israel and Pakistan are high on the social hostilities list. What does it tells us about these states?

All these states give importance to religion and give preference to the dominant religious group. Whether these state fall in the first or second list depends on their control of violence in their own territory and their relationship with the international community, or more accurately, international powers. For states based on religious nationalism, following matrix maybe an accurate picture.

Religious nationalist states, government restrictions and social hostilities

	Control violence	Cannot control violence
Defy international community	Government restrictions: High Social hostilities: Moderate	Government restrictions: High Social hostilities: High
Cannot defy international community	Government restrictions: Moderate Social hostilities: Moderate	Government restrictions: Moderate Social hostilities: High