"What is the relationship between the sacred and the political, immanence and transcendence, religion and violence? And how has this relationship affected the history of the West and its political reason? In this volume an international group of scholars explore these questions in light of mimetic theory as formulated by René Girard (1923-), one of the most important thinkers of our time. From Aristotle and his idea of tragedy, to Machiavelli and political modernity, to contemporary biopolitics, this work provides an indispensable guide to those who want to assess the thorny connections between sacrality and politics in Western political thought and find an unexplored yet critical path from ancient Greece to our post-secular condition. While looking at the past, this book seeks to illuminate the future relevance of the sacred/secular divide in the so-called 'age of globalization'."--Bloomsbury Publishing.