Religion and comparative politics

Although scholars tend to downplay the role of religion in political life, the vast majority of people in the world profess a strong allegiance to som e spiritual faith. Secularization theory has long held that religion would become irrelevant, leading many comparative scholars to ignore this potenti ally significant variable. A recent resurgence in religious fundamentalism and "new religious politics" has led more scholars to consider religious ac tors as important. However, research in this area befalls many of the same problems inherent in earlier secularization theories. A new body of scholar ship, known as the "religious economy" school, seeks to address these probl ems by developing theories built on solid microlevel foundations of human b ehavior. This line of research holds great promise for the study of religio n in comparative politics.