IPSA RC 43 - Religion and Politics

Announcing Palgrave Macmillan’s new series: Religion and Global Migrations

As the first series of its kind, Religion and Global Migrations will examine the phenomenon of religion and migration from multiple disciplinary perspectives (for example, historical, anthropological, sociological, ethical and theological), from various global locations (including the Americas, Europe and Asia), and from a range of religious traditions. The Series Editors are interested in monographs and edited volumes that explore the intersections of religion and migration from a variety of approaches, including studies of:

- Shifting Religious Practices and Ideas in sending and receiving communities, among migrants and also among those who interact with migrants in places of origin and destination;

- Public Responses to migration such as religiously informed debates, policies and activism among migrants and nonmigrants alike;

- Gender Dynamics including shifts in gender roles and access to power in sending and receiving sites;

- Identity in relation to religion and migration that may include constructive, as well as descriptive, scholarship;

- Empire, from the ancient Mediterranean through the height of European colonization to contemporary relationships between the developing and developed world, and the way it has profoundly affected the movement of people and development of religions;

- Other topics connecting to the theme of religion and global migrations.

Series Editors

Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh is Departmental Lecturer in Forced Migration at the Refugee Studies Centre, and Junior Research Fellow in Refugees Studies at Lady Margaret Hall elena.fiddian-qasmiyeh@qeh.ox.ac.uk

Jennifer B. Saunders is an independent researcher who has published on transnational Hinduism jbsaund1@yahoo.com

Susanna Snyder is Assistant Professor in Contemporary Society and Christian Ethics at Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA ssnyder@eds.edu

Editorial Board

Peggy Levitt (Wellesley College, USA) Kim Knott (Lancaster University, UK) Zain Abdullah (Temple University, USA)

Proposals

If you are interested in submitting a proposal to be considered for the series, please contact one of the Series Editors or: Burke Gerstenschlager, Palgrave Macmillan Burke.Gerstenschlager@palgrave-usa.com

Call for Panels

Conference of the Italian Political Science Society (SISP) – Section ‘Politics and Religion’

Florence (Italy), 12-14 September 2013

http://www.sisp.it/convegno

Deadline: 20 March 2013

To propose a panel, send an abstract of about 200 words to Prof. Piero Ignazi (piero.ignazi@unibo.it) and Prof. Damiano Palano (damiano.palano@unicatt.it).

After the so-called ‘revenge of God’ (according to the definition proposed by Gilles Kepel) taking place in the last decades of the 20th century, the relation between politics and religion has been a crucial variable to understand the contemporary world. This is true both at the domestic level, with religious values and actors (churches, but also organizations, movements and parties) influencing public debates and public policies; as well as at the international level, where – especially after 9/11 – the religious factor has been relevant in orienting global relations. This section will take into account such issues, by including panels – both in Italian and in English – dedicated to the relation between politics and religion according to different points of view and methodological perspectives. To begin with, the section will tackle the issue related to the role of religion within representative democracies, taking into account both the opportunities and the risks this latter can engender. To do so, we will analyze on the one hand the role played by collective identities, within phenomena such as religiously oriented parties and movements; but also, in quantitative terms, the role played in voting dynamics by the religious factor. We will also not neglect this latter’s influence on non democratic regimes: both theocratic polities, and authoritarian regimes relying on the sacred as a source of legitimacy. The section will also accept panels taking into account the influence of religion on more specific features of the political process, such as policy-making and political communication. Moreover, the section will analyze the role of the confessional factor at the international level, first of all under a theoretical point of view, by taking into account the role (to date mostly neglected) that religion can play in the development of the international relations theory and, at the empirical level, its actual influence on foreign policies as well as on global processes such as globalization and new media development. We will also accept panels devoted to transnational religious actors (churches, movements, and diaspora religious organizations), which are playing an increasingly relevant role in influencing the relations among nation-states.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Post-Secularism: Between Public Reason and Political Theology A Special Issue of THE EUROPEAN LEGACY http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cele20/current

Guest Editors: Camil Ungureanu (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona) and Lasse Thomassen (Queen Mary, University of London)

This special issue is scheduled for late 2014.

CALL FOR PAPERS: In recent years, leading philosophers, including Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and or John D. Caputo, have criticized "old-style" secularism and proposed instead a post-secular model for understanding the relation of religion and democracy, faith and reason. There are however profound theoretical and practical divergences in the post-secular models proposed. First, what are the precise characteristics of post-secularism as a philosophical alternative? In what sense could it be said to break with secularism? Second, what are the practical political and legal consequences of adhering a post-secular approach? From a critical theoretical perspective, Habermas focuses on a revised concept of public reason and deliberation in promoting an active interaction of democracy and religion. From a hermeneutical perspective, Taylor’s recent work centres on the new "conditions of belief" and the dilemmas inherent to both religious and atheist experience. In contrast, Caputo and Richard Kearney develop a Derridean aporetic understanding of the nexus of democracy and religion, faith and reason, whereas Hent de Vries, William Connolly and Simon Critchley reject Habermas’s rationalist approach and propose a distinct understanding of post-secularism by focusing on Schmitt’s and Benjamin’s re-appropriation of the tenets of Saint Paul in their political-theological works. Although these trends have been studied to some extent, there has been no sustained attempt so far to subject them to a comparative analysis that would more fully address the issue of “post-secularism.”

Our "Call for Papers" invites scholars to submit a study, with a comparative dimension, that addresses both the philosophical import and the practical-political effects of the post-secular alternative. The work of the following authors will be at the centre of our proposed special issue: Habermas, Taylor, Caputo, Critchley, Connolly, Gianni Vattimo, Jacques Derrida, Slavoj Žižek, Giorgio Agamben, and Jean-Luc Nancy. Comparative studies that focus on various religious traditions (Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist, Confucian, etc.) and theologians, and those that focus on the public role of religion in democracy (e.g., Rawls, Weithman, Wolterstorff) are particularly welcome.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to: - Significance and varieties of post-secularism - Open secularity, post-secularism or political theology? - Deliberative post-secularism or political liberalism - Post-secularism: religious imagination and practice (Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Confucian, Buddhist, etc.) - Discussion of (legal, moral or political) practical cases from a post-secular perspective - Is political theology useful for re-thinking democracy? - Varieties of political theology today - Re-thinking the legacy of Saint Paul - Visions of sovereignty: between proceduralism and political theology - Faith: religious? secular? - Post-secularism and feminism - The state of exception between deliberation and political decision - Rethinking solidarity from a postsecular perspective

Deadline for submissions: 27 October 2013

Length of essay: 6,000 – 8,000 words, including notes. (For the referencing style, please consult http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cele20/current)

Potential contributors are welcome to contact the editors to discuss their proposed essay.

Camil Ungureanu (camil.ungureanu@upf.edu) Lasse Thomassen (l.thomassen@qmul.ac.uk)

Religion and Human Security A Global Perspective Edited by James K. Wellman and Clark B. Lombardi

Since the1950s the world has witnessed a period of extraordinary religious revival in which religious political parties and non-governmental organizations have gained power around the globe. At the same time, the international community has come to focus on the challenge of promoting global human security. This groundbreaking book explores how these trends are interacting. In theoretical essays and case studies from Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, the Americas, Africa and Europe, the contributors address such crucial questions as: Under what circumstances do religiously motivated actors advance or harm human welfare? Do certain state policies tend to promote security-enhancing behavior among religious groups? The book concludes by providing important suggestions to policymakers about how to factor the influence of religion into their evaluation of a population's human security and into programs designed to improve human security around the globe.

About the Author(s)

James K. Wellman, Jr. is Associate Professor and Chair of the Comparative Religion Program at the Jackson School of International Studies. He is the author of The Gold Church and the Ghetto: Christ and Culture in Mainline Protestantism and Evangelical vs. Liberal: The Clash of Christian Cultures and the editor of several books, including, Belief and Bloodshed: Religion and Violence Across Time and Tradition.

Clark B. Lombardi is Associate Professor of Law and Adjunct Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Washington. He is the author of State Law as Islamic Law: The Incorporation of the Shari`a into Egyptian Constitutional Law as well as numerous academic articles. He is co-editor of the Oxford Islamic Legal Studies series .

Religion, Rights And Secular Society European Perspectives Edited by Peter Cumper, University of Leicester, UK and Tom Lewis, Nottingham Trent University, UK December 2012

[http://www.e-elgar.com/bookentry_main.lasso?id=14080 |http://www.e-elgar.com/bookentry_main.lasso?id=14080]

This topical collection of chapters examines secular society and the legal protection of religion and belief across Europe, both in general and more nation-specific terms.

The expectations of many that religion in modern Europe would be swept away by the powerful current of secularization have not been realised, and today few topics generate more controversy than the complex relationship between religious and secular values. The 'religious/secular' relationship is examined in this book, which brings together scholars from different parts of Europe and beyond to provide insights into the methods by which religion and equivalent beliefs have been, and continue to be, protected in the legal systems and constitutions of European nations. The contributors' chapters reveal that the oft-tumultuous legacy of Europe's relationship with religion still resonates across a continent where legal, political and social contours have been powerfully shaped by faith and religious difference.

Covering recent controversies such as the Islamic headscarf, and the presence of the crucifix in school class-rooms, this book will appeal to academics and students in law, human rights and the social sciences, as well as law and policy makers and NGOs in the field of human rights. Full table of contents

Contents:

1. Introduction Peter Cumper and Tom Lewis

2. The Netherlands: Neutral But Not Indifferent Marjolein van den Brink and Titia Loenen

3. Secularism and Establishment in the United Kingdom Peter W. Edge

4. Law, Religion and Belief in Germany Gerhard Robbers

5. Religion in the Constitutional Order of the Republic of Ireland Eoin Daly

6. Religion and Secular Values in Spain: A Long Path to a Real Religious Pluralism Eugenia Relaño Pastor

7. The Rise and Contradictions of Italy as a Secular State Marco Ventura

8. Religious Freedom in a Secular Society: An Analysis of the French Approach to manifestation of Beliefs in the Public Sphere Sylvie Bacquet

9. Secularism, Law and Religion within the Cypriot Legal Order Achilles C. Emilianides

10. The Pendulum of Church-State Relations in Hungary Renata Uitz

11. Law, Religion and Belief in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland Michaela Moravcíková

12. Human Rights and Religion in the Balkans Julie Mertus

13. Understanding Religion in Europe: A Continually Evolving Mosaic Grace Davie

14. Islam and Secular Values in Europe: From Canon to Chaos? Jørgen S. Nielsen

15. Legal Considerations Concerning New Religious Movements in the 'New Europe' James T. Richardson and Valerie A. Lykes

CALL FOR PAPERS

Sociology of Islam (SOI)

Special Issue on Kurdish Islam

Sociology of Islam, a peer reviewed quarterly journal published by BRILL ( http://www.brill.com/publications/journals/sociology-islam ), plans a special issue on Kurdish Islam to be published in January 2014 (Volume 2, Number 1). Original research articles from any discipline are welcome, with special emphasis on papers that use vernacular-language empirical material and sociological perspective. Lately, Kurdish Islamic cultural repertoires and public religious symbolism have become a significant issue in defining contentious ethnic politics in Kurdish-populated regions in the Middle East. Despite its growing importance especially after the Arab Spring, the topic remains to be understudied among scholars. This special issue aims to shed light to recent revitalization of Kurdish Islamic sphere as well as emerging ethno-religious Kurdish initiatives in the Middle East and will be edited by Mustafa E. Gurbuz, University of South Florida, and Gulsum Kucuksari, University of Arizona.

Submission Info: Please submit manuscripts to the editor of the special issue, Mustafa Gurbuz, gurbuz@usf.edu, by April 15, 2013. Maximum length is 40 pages, not including figures and tables. Remove all self-references (in text and in bibliography) save for on the title page, which should include full contact information for all authors. Include the paper's title and the abstract on the first page of the text itself. For initial submissions, any standard social science in-text citation and bibliographic system is acceptable. All submissions will be evaluated upon receipt and, if judged appropriate, sent to referees for review.

Political Islam, also known as Islamism, is an increasingly important force in Muslim majority countries and regions of the world, within Muslim communities in western states, and at the level of global politics. Whether through violence or participatory democratic politics, Islamism is now contending for national political power in numerous Muslim majority countries and some transnational movements of political Islam pose challenges analogous to those of communism at various times in the twentieth century. Within western societies the rise of Islamism is perceived as a major threat to assimilation of immigrants and to the overall coherence of national political communities.

Despite its political centrality, Islamism remains poorly understood, partly because of its very complexity and controversial aspects, and partly because of sweeping generalisations and misrepresentations by the media. The purposes of this course are to enable participants to better understand the various components of Islamism, their contemporary political significance at the global, regional, national and subnational levels, and the likely future directions for the movement in those contexts.

It will be assumed that course participants will have a basic knowledge of Islam and a general awareness of at least one global region in which Islamism is an active political force. Participants will be provided with pre-course reading and course materials.

The programme will be led by a balance of world academic experts and practitioners, shaping a unique, wide-ranging informative course.

http://www.soas.ac.uk/political-islam/

You are kindly invited to submit a panel or paper proposal(s) for the section on the "Critical Relations between International Relations and Islam" chaired by Nassef Manabilang Adiong and Dr. Adis Duderija for the 8th Pan-European Conference on International Relations (18-21 September 2013, Warsaw, Poland). It is organized by the Standing Group on International Relations (European International Studies Association) in cooperation with the Institute of International Relations of the University of Warsaw and the Polish Association for International Studies. The website of the general conference is http://www.8thpaneuropean.org/ For more details about the particular section on IR and Islam, please visit http://www.nassef-m-adiong.com/2012/12/critical-relations-of-international.html

Scholars are also cordially invited to join the "International Relations and Islamic Studies (IR-IS) Research Cohort." It is an experimental-research-cohort or network and e-community of theoreticians and practitioners - be they scholars, authors, diplomats, policy makers, teachers, (post/undergraduate students), and/or laypersons - interested in the advancement or progress of the relations between International Relations and Islamic Studies in the academic (disciplinary) and practicum (practice/phenomena) areas or perspectives.

For further details, please visit http://www.nassef-m-adiong.com/p/international-relations-ir-and-islamic.html

VOL 5, NO 1 (2012) of Religion and Society In Central and Eastern Europe is now available at: http://www.rascee.net/index.php/rascee/issue/view/5/showToc

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

Editorial

ARTICLES

Studying Religion and Power: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges (Pål Repstad)

Religion in Central European Societies: Its Social Role and People’s Expectations (Branko Ančić, Siniša Zrinščak)

What about Our Rights? The State and Minority Religious Communities in Croatia: A Case Study (Ankica Marinović, Dinka Marinović Jerolimov)

Extremist Manipulations of Apocalyptic Fears: A Case Study of de-Christianisation and Islamisation Discourses on the Romanian New Right Blog (Adela Fofiu)

REVIEWS

András Máté-Tóth and Cosima Rughiniş (eds.) Spaces and Borders: Current Research on Religion in Central and Eastern Europe Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter (James T. Richardson)

Gert Pickel and Kornelia Sammet (eds.) Transformations of Religiosity. Religion and Religiosity in Eastern Europe 1989 – 2010 Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2012. 216 pages. ISBN: 978-3-531-17540-9. € 34.95 (paperback) (Peter Török)

Lavinia Stan and Lucian Turcescu Church, State, and Democracy in Expanding Europe Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. 287 pages. ISBN: 978-0-19-533710-5. US$ 65 (hardback) (Monica Grigore)

Milda Ališauskienė and Ingo W. Schröder (eds.) Religious Diversity in Post-Soviet Society. Ethnographies of Catholic Hegemony and the New Pluralism in Lithuania Farnham/Burlington: Ashgate, 2012. 226 pages. ISBN: 978-1-4094-0912-0. £45.00 (hardback) (Smoczynski Rafal)

Religion in the Neoliberal Age Political Economy and Modes of Governance Edited by François Gauthier, University of Fribourg, Switzerland and Tuomas Martikainen, University of Helsinki, Finland Ashgate 2013

http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409449782

This book, together with the complementary volume Religion in Consumer Society, focuses on religion, neoliberalism and consumer society; offering an overview of an emerging field of research in the study of contemporary religion. Outlining changes in both the political-institutional and cultural spheres, the contributors offer an international overview of developments in different countries and state of the art representation of religion in the new global political economy.

'Tuomas Martikainen and François Gauthier seek to break new ground and work toward a synthesis and clarification of the diverse and often contradictory approaches to understanding the transformation of religion in today's globalized world. The contributors to the volume analyze these changes as integral to the recent economic shaping of culture in the form of consumerism and neoliberalism. They explore the changing landscape of relations between religions and states in the context of the rise of market-oriented, neoliberal modes of governance and management, including as concerns religious organizations.' - Peter Beyer, University of Ottawa, Canada

Contents

Introduction: Religion in Market Society François Gauthier, Tuomas Martikainen and Linda Woodhead

PART I Religions in the New Political Economy

1 Entrepreneurial Spirituality and Ecumenical Alterglobalism: Two Religious Responses to Global Neoliberalism Joanildo A. Burity

2 Making Religion Irrelevant: The 'Resurgent Religion' Narrative and the Critique of Neoliberalism James V. Spickard

3 The Decline of the Parishes and the Rise of City Churches: The German Evangelical Church in the Age of Neoliberalism Jens Schlamelcher

4 Catholic Church Civil Society Activism and the Neoliberal Governmental Project of Migrant Integration in Ireland Breda Gray

5 Faith, Welfare and the Formation of the Modern American Right Jason Hackworth

PART II Political Governance of Religion

6 Neoliberalism and the Privatization of Welfare and Religious Organizations in the United States of America David Ashley and Ryan Sandefer

7 Multilevel and Pluricentric Network Governance of Religion Tuomas Martikainen

8 Regulating Religion in a Neoliberal Context: The Transformation of Estonia Ringo Ringvee

9 Neoliberalism and Counterterrorism Laws: Impact on Australian Muslim Community Organizations Agnes Chong

10 From Implicitly Christian to Neoliberal: The Moral Foundations of Canadian Law Exposed by the Case of Prostitution Rachel Chagnon and François Gauthier

11 Religious Freedom and Neoliberalism: From Harm to Cost-benefit Lori G. Beaman