Religious fundamentalism, holy wars and rule of law: the role of the international legal system

The fundamentalist approach to political scene involves a clear rejection (or at least a sharp reshaping) of a supreme principle on which all western democracies are founded, namely the principle of State’s secularism. Religious fundamentalisms are not only linked to a belief, but it is possible to find them in many experiences of the sacred quest. The phenomenon is so complex and diverse to show up – not only as result of migration processes – but also by virtue of a certain radicalization of the religious experiences faced to impetuous secularization shaking Europe – in an organized and well structured form also out of the geopolitical context in which fundamentalist movements were born or developed more effectively. That is what happened in Russia in front of the wars against Ukraine: and, in this case, we are in front of an «institutional fundamentalism» led by the supreme authority of the Russian Orthodox Church.