*5.2. Second Tier: Conditions of Choice*

The second tier is the delimitations placed on a government's action alternatives by the opportunities and restrictions religion poses in both the state's external environment and domestic politics. Decisionmakers' freedom of choice is determined, inter alia, by the role religion plays in global politics (e.g., Israel's enhanced freedom of action after the war on Islamic terror became the main frame for talking about religion in international politics); the role religion plays in regional politics (e.g., the greater security cooperation with Arab countries after the consolidation of the Middle East into two rival camps around the Shi'i-Sunni divide), and by bilateral relations based on religious a ffinity and the existence of each other's religious diasporas (e.g., the special relationship between Israel and the US). Decisionmakers' options are further delimited by domestic politics pressures that include uniformity of public opinion on religious issues and lobbying by religious actors. In the Israeli case, religious lobbying was found to be influential only on the margins of policies. The same can be said in the French case, to be discussed later.
