Religion and Political Change in the Modern World : Routledge : 9780415744966 : 0415744962 : 14 Mar 2014 : The purpose of the book is to ascertain whether there is a generic impact that ?religion' brings to bear on recent political changes in the modern world. Over the last two decades or so, there have been increasing numbers of political issues with which various manifestations of religion engage. This impact is not restricted exclusively to countries in the ?developed' or ?developing' world. Instead, we seem to be seeing a widespread impact of religion on politics which defies earlier assumptions about secularisation. This presumed that the more ?modern' a country is then the less likely it is that religion will play a significant political role. Recent evidence is, however, firmly to the contrary: the degree of ?modernity' in a country does not correspond well with the amount of ?religiosity' in a country, nor with the role that religion can play in politics. The book focuses on t