About this Event
The Research Centre in International Relations (RCIR) is delighted to invite you to the book talk by Dr Maria Birnbaum, ‘Before Recognition: How the Politics of Religion Shaped the International Order’ (Cambridge University Press 2026).
At a moment when “religion” is routinely invoked to explain conflict, governance, and global order, Before Recognition asks a more fundamental question: how did religion come to be seen as a distinct and legible category in world politics in the first place?
In her new book, Birnbaum traces the historical and conceptual conditions that made religion governable, showing that its recognition has never been neutral, but deeply entangled with projects of power. Drawing on the interconnected imperial histories of British India and Mandate Palestine, Birnbaum examines how colonial and anti-colonial actors alike shaped the politics of religious difference—reconfiguring minority rights, representation, and borders in ways that continue to structure the postcolonial states of Pakistan and Israel. By situating contemporary debates within these longer genealogies, the book offers a provocative rethinking of the epistemic foundations of international relations.
Dr Stacey Gutkowski, Reader in Peace and Conflict Studies at King’s College London, and the author of ‘Religion, War and Israel’s Secular Millennials: Being Reasonable?’ (Manchester University Press, 2020), will join the session to offer discussant comments.
The session will be chaired by Dr Felix Berenskötter, Reader in International Relations at King’s College London, who is the editor of ‘Concepts in International Relations: A New Introduction’ (Sage 2025).
Please join us for this special event, followed by a Q&A and a drinks reception.
This event will take place in the Bush House Lecture Theatre 3 BH (NE) 0.01, King’s College London. A member of our team will be stationed at the King's Building reception to register you and direct you to the room.
Speaker: Dr Maria Birnbaum
Discussant: Dr Stacey Gutkowski
Chair: Dr Felix Berenskötter
About the speaker:
Dr Maria Birnbaum
Maria Birnbaum is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Basel and a Senior Researcher at swisspeace. Working in the fields of Global Politics, Social and Political Theory, Religious Studies, and Colonial History, her research examines the relationship between diversity and order with a particular focus on religion and politics. She also teaches and writes on the politics and history of knowledge and non-knowledge, as well as conceptual history. She is the author of Before Recognition. How the Politics of Religion Shaped the International Order (Cambridge University Press, 2026); The Costs of Recognition (International Theory), Entangled Empire (Millennium), and Recognizing Diversity in the edited volume Culture and Order in World Politics, winner of the ISA Theory Section Prize for the Best Edited Book.
RCIR Speaker Series:
The RCIR Speaker Series is an initiative of the Research Centre in International Relations (RCIR) in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. RCIR is defined by an interdisciplinary orientation to the theorisation and analyses of the changing nature of international relations, with a particular focus on questions of security, conflict, and their social and political implications.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Bush House Lecture Theatre 3 BH (NE) 0.01, Strand, London, United Kingdom
USD 0.00
