The Scope of Opportunities for Religious Peacebuilders

Abstract

Steen-Johnsen applies Brewer et al.’s understanding of scope of opportunities as access to strategic social spaces, when assessing what religious peacebuilders can do in various political contexts. She outlines how Ethiopian religious leaders are only able to engage in peacebuilding activities which are acceptable to the regime, such as proffering a coexistence discourse. The religious leaders cannot, however, launch ideas which can be understood as challenging the political strategies of the EPRDF regime. Steen-Johnsen suggests that this renders the contribution of religious actors to peace much weaker in this type of political context as they fail to address important political contentious dimensions of the conflicts which they try to diminish.