Democratization in Christian Orthodox Europe
Democratization in Christian Orthodox Europe

Author: Marko Veković

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-09-24

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1000072592

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For a long time, Orthodox Christianity was regarded as a religious tradition that was incompatible with democracy. This book challenges this incompatibility thesis, offering an innovative and fresh theoretical framework for dealing with the issue of Orthodoxy and democracy. This book focuses on the political behaviour of Orthodox Christian Churches in the democratization processes from a comparative perspective, and shows that different Orthodox Churches acted differently in the democratization processes in Greece, Serbia and Russia. The fundamental question that arises is – why? By focusing on institutions, rather than on political theology, this book answers this question from a comparative perspective. By studying the historical, cultural, and political roles of the Orthodox Christian Church in these three countries, the author examines whether it is logical to presume that the Church played a significant role in the democratization process. This book will be of great interest to academics and students globally who teach, study, and research in the emerging field of religion and democracy.

Church, State, and Democracy in Expanding Europe
Church, State, and Democracy in Expanding Europe

Author: Lavinia Stan

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-08-29

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 0199714126

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Lavinia Stan and Lucian Turcescu examine the relationship between religion and politics in ten former communist Eastern European countries. Contrary to widespread theories of increasing secularization, Stan and Turcescu argue that in most of these countries, the populations have shown themselves to remain religious even as they embrace modernization and democratization. Church-state relations in the new EU member states can be seen in political representation for church leaders, governmental subsidies, registration of religions by the state, and religious instruction in public schools. Stan and Turcescu outline three major models: the Czech church-state separation model, in which religion is private and the government secular; the pluralist model of Hungary, Bulgaria and Latvia, which views society as a group of complementary but autonomous spheres - for example, education, the family, and religion - each of which is worthy of recognition and support from the state; and the dominant religion model that exists in Poland, Romania, Estonia, and Lithuania, in which the government maintains informal ties to the religious majority. Church, State, and Democracy in Expanding Europe offers critical tools for understanding church-state relations in an increasingly modern and democratic Eastern Europe.

Religion and Democracy
Religion and Democracy

Author: Carsten Anckar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-11-30

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1000475522

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This fully updated new edition empirically assesses the relationship between religion and democracy, looking at global, regional, and individual countries’ perspectives. Using a wide range of quantitative data, the author tests the validity of Huntington's claim that democracy and religion are tightly connected, and that western Christianity is the only religion capable of supporting democratic institutions. He evaluates both the broader assumptions that the introduction and the stability of a democratic form of government is dependent on the dominating religion in the country at the macro level, and the suggestion that, at the individual level, religious adherence is related to pro-democratic values. Examining religions including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion, and Judaism, this book demonstrates that geographical and political contexts are more important than religious affiliation for explaining levels of, and attitudes towards, democracy. As well as offering a broad empirical picture of the relationship between religion and democracy, this new edition delves deeper into the religion–state nexus, focusing particularly on events that have taken place during the last decade. The author explores how religion is used instrumentally by political leaders in different parts of the world. He also discusses the extent to which religious minorities are under increasing pressure in secularized environments; prospects for democracy in the MENA region a decade after the Arab Spring; the growing influence of evangelical Christianity in Latin America; and how increasing levels of religious conflict in Asia and the Pacific as well as in Sub-Saharan Africa pose a threat to the emergence and survival of democracy. This book will be of great interest to students, academics, and researchers within the field of comparative politics, as well as journalists and various theological associations.

The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Politics and Ideology
The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Politics and Ideology

Author: Jeffrey Haynes

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-08-14

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 100041700X

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This comprehensive handbook examines relationships between religion, politics and ideology, with a focus on several world religions — Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism — in a variety of contexts, regions and countries. Relationships between religion, politics and ideology help mould people’s attitudes about the way that political systems, both domestically and internationally, are organised and operate. While conceptually separate, religion, politics and ideology often become intertwined and as a result their relationships evolve over time. This volume brings together a number of expert contributors who explore a wide range of topical and controversial issues, including gender, nationalism, communism, fascism, populism and Islamism. Such topics inform the overall aim of the handbook: to provide a comprehensive summary of the relationships between religion, politics and ideology, including basic issues and new approaches. This handbook is a major research resource for students, researchers and professionals from various disciplinary backgrounds, including religious studies, political science, international relations, and sociology.

When Politics Meets Religion
When Politics Meets Religion

Author: Marko Veković

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-08-05

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1040102190

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When Politics Meets Religion presents a fresh exploration of the relationship between religion and politics worldwide. The volume includes topics covering Europe, such as the European far right, the contours of "European identity", and how religious cleavages affect value orientation of Europeans. It also covers country-focused issues and events, such as the influence of Orthodox Christianity in Russia, Christian nationalism in the United States, the influence of religion on Turkish foreign policy, the political role of the Catholic Church in the Philippines, Chinese attitudes towards religious deprivatization, and how liberation theology found its way from Latin America to the Holy Land. The volume is supplemented with several analyses on the intersection between law, society, and religion. It deals with religious mediation and political conflicts, how the current religious governance in France affects the Orthodox Jewish community, as well as how taxing the church’s economic activities can be a contributor to the common good, and why Muslims should treat Sharia law as only a moral code in the context of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Through rigorous research, case studies, and critical analysis, this volume explains how religion and politics mix in different settings, and why it is important for us to study this complex relationship. The volume will appeal to scholars and graduate students of political science and religious studies, as well as interested professionals working for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or governments.

Religion, Law and the Politics of Ethical Diversity
Religion, Law and the Politics of Ethical Diversity

Author: Claude Proeschel

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-03-31

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 1000372529

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This book provides a multidisciplinary and comparative look at the contemporary phenomenon of conscientious objection or contestation in the name of religion and examines the key issues that emerge in terms of citizenship and democracy. These are analysed by looking at the different ways of challenging or contesting a legal obligation on the grounds of religious beliefs and convictions. The authors focus on the meaning of conscientious objection which asserts the legitimacy of convictions – in particular religious convictions – in determining the personal or collective relevance of the law and of public action. The book begins by examining the main theoretical issues underlying conscientious objection, exploring the implications of the protection of freedom of conscience, the place of religion in the secular public sphere and the recognition and respect of ethical pluralism in society. It then focuses on the question of exemptions and contestations of civil norms, using a multidisciplinary approach to highlight the multiple and diverse issues surrounding them, as well as the motives behind them. This book will be of great interest to scholars, specialists and graduate and advanced undergraduate students who are interested in issues of religious diversity. Researchers and policymakers in think-tanks, NGOs and government units will find the volume useful in identifying key issues in understanding the phenomenon of conscientious objection and its implications in managing ethical diversity in contemporary societies.

Islam, Liberalism, and Ontology
Islam, Liberalism, and Ontology

Author: Joseph J. Kaminski

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-03-31

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 1000372227

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This book offers comparative ontologies of both Islam and liberalism as discourses more broadly construed. The author argues that, despite recent efforts to speak of overlapping consensuses and discursive congruence, the fundamental categories that constitute "Islam" and "Liberalism" remain very different, and that these differences should be taken seriously. Thus far, no recent scholarly works have explicitly or meticulously broken down where these differences lie. The author rigorously explores questions related to rights, moral epistemologies, the role of religion in the public sphere, and more general approaches to legal discourse, via primary and canonical sources constitutive of both Islam and liberalism. He then goes on to articulate why communitarian modes of thought are better suited for engaging with Islam and contemporary socio-political modes of organization than liberalism is. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of politics and international relations, Islam, liberalism, and communitarianism.

A Quarter Century of the “Clash of Civilizations”
A Quarter Century of the “Clash of Civilizations”

Author: Jeffrey Haynes

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-05-11

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 1000383830

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The "clash of civilizations" focuses on conflict and cooperation between and within states. Dealing with the clash is essential for a peaceful and harmonious world. The "clash of civilizations" is a topic of great interest around the world and constitutes an important dimension of religion and international relations. In the quarter century since Huntington first aired his controversial framework, inter-civilizational "clash" and "dialogue" have become mainstream issues both in international relations and in many Western countries' domestic concerns. The book examines a key question: how does Samuel Huntington’s "clash of civilizations" "paradigm" help explain current Western governments" responses to Muslim migration and related security issues? Understanding relations between the West/Westerners and Muslim-majority societies/Muslims is impossible without being aware that right-wing populist politicians in the West, as well as some policy makers and commentators, seem to view all Muslims in a malign way. This indicates a lack of willingness to make a distinction between, on the one hand, the mass of "moderate," "ordinary," and "peaceful" Muslims and, on the other hand, a small minority of Islamist extremists and even smaller number of Islamist terrorists. The result is a crucial topic of our times: how do different civilizations coexist in a small and increasingly congested planet without conflict? The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of The Review of Faith & International Affairs.

World Religions and Democracy
World Religions and Democracy

Author: Larry Diamond

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2005-03-02

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 9780801880803

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Can religion be compatible with liberal democracy? World Religions and Democracy brings together insights from renowned scholars and world leaders in a provocative and timely discussion of religions' role in the success or failure of democracy. An essay by Alfred Stepan outlines the concept of "twin tolerations" and differentiation, and creates a template that can be applied to all of the religion-democracy relationships observed and analyzed throughout the volume. "Twin tolerations" means that there is a clear distinction and a mutual respect between political authorities and religious leaders and bodies. When true differentiation is accomplished, the religious sector enjoys freedom of activity and the ability to peacefully influence its members but does not wield direct political power. A country's ability to implement the principle of differentiation directly affects the successful development of democracy. Part two focuses on eastern religions—Confucianism, Hinduism, and Buddhism—and includes contributions from Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The third part addresses democracy in relationship to Judaism and the three branches of Christianity—Catholicism, Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. Sociologist Peter Berger offers a global perspective of Christianity and democracy. The volume's final section discusses what is perhaps the most challenging example of the struggling relationship between religion and democracy today: Islam and the governments of the Muslim nations. Abdou Filali-Ansary, Bernard Lewis, and others present a comprehensive exploration of Muslim thought and faith in an increasingly secular, modern world. It is in this volatile political and religious climate that solutions are most urgently needed but also most elusive. Contributors: Alfred Stepan, Hahm Chaibong, Francis Fukuyama, Pratap Mehta, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Hillel Fradkin, Daniel Philpott, Tim Shah, Robert Woodberry, Elizabeth Prodromou, Peter Berger, Abdou Filali-Ansary, Bernard Lewis, Robin Wright, Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Radwan A. Masmoudi, Laith Kubba, Ladan Boroumand, Roya Boroumand.

Religious Communities and Civil Society in Europe
Religious Communities and Civil Society in Europe

Author: Rupert Graf Strachwitz

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2020-06-08

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 3110673088

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The seemingly vitalizing impact of religiosity on civil society is a research topic that has been extensively looked into, not only in the USA, but increasingly also in a European context. What is missing is an evaluation of the role of institutionalized religious communities, and of circumstances that facilitate or impede their status as civil society organisations. This anthology in 2 volumes aims at closing this gap by providing case studies regarding political, legal and historical aspects in various European countries. Vol. 2 provides some theoretical aspects, a report on the final conference, and case studies from Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and the Ukraine, as well as a special chapter on Brazil and a Note on Religious Political Ideology.