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Religious Soft Power As Accountability Mechanism For Power In World Politics, Sherrie Steiner

Sherrie M Steiner

This case study of the Interfaith Leaders’ Summit(s) from 2005-2010 expands the concept of ‘soft power’ as an accountability mechanism to include religious soft power. The Interfaith Leaders exercise public reputational and peer accountability in relation to the G8/G20 leaders. The value of the dialogue process is not contingent upon political leader responsiveness. The significance of the religious accountability mechanism is ascertained by using a complex theoretical standard for assessing the legitimacy of global governance institutions against which observations are then gauged. The InterFaith Dialogue Mechanism shows increasing compliance with the complex standard between 2005 and 2010. The ongoing value …