'Hybrid Actors' – Religion and the Shift Towards a World Society

Religion appears in international relations in a multitude of shapes. The paper holds that one way to grasp this ‘actorness problem’ is by conceptualizing religion as a foreign policy actor and transnational actor at the same time. In the words of the English School, such ‘hybrid actors’ are extremely well suited to contribute to the shift from the international society to a form of world society. By examining the dyad between the Vatican and Iran the study depicts two striking (but of course different) examples of ‘hybrid actors’ representing both states and religions. The dyad’s double social practices (state communication as well as inter-religious dialogue) are subsequently interpreted as obvious manifestations of the above mentioned shift to world society. The paper seeks to propose a new terminology for religious actors which would fit to the analytical framework provided by the English School.