Religion and Politics ― European and Global Perspectives

Combining theoretical and empirical research, these 12 essays examine the role of religion and its prospects in Europe. On the one hand, the volume discusses growing Islamic presence in Europe as a reminder of enduring religious pluralism, not least in view of the high prominence given to Islamic experience in arguments against over-generalised notions of secularisation. On the other hand, it explores the question of Christian motivated extremism and religious nationalism. Against this background, the contributors discuss the role of religion in other countries throughout the worldincluding China, Japan, Russia and the MENA region.

Debates on religion and politics have, to a high degree, focused on contrasts between Europe and other parts of the world; the long-established assumption that modern societies are on a secularising path seemed have a stronger claim to validity in Europe than elsewhere. This book shows that, if European modernity does represent an exit from religion, this historical process and its implications are still very imperfectly understood.

Johann P. Arnason is emeritus professor of sociology at La Trobe University, Melbourne, and visiting professor at the Faculty of Human Studies, Charles University, Prague.

Arnason taught sociology in Heidelberg and Bielefeld from 1972 to 1975, and at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, from 1975 to 2003. He has been a visiting professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and at the University of Leipzig, and a research fellow of the Alexander v. Humboldt-Stiftung, the Swedish Institute of Advanced Studies, the Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut (Essen), the Lichtenberg- Kolleg in Gottingen and the Max-Weber-Kolleg in Erfurt. His research interests centre on social theory and historical sociology, with particular emphasis on the comparative analysis of civilizations.

Ireneusz P. Karolewski is Professor and Chair of Political Science at the University of Wroclaw.

Karolewski graduated and received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Potsdam in Germany. He was assistant professor at the Chair of Political Theory at the University of Potsdam between 1999 and 2008 and visiting professor at the Institut D'Etudes Politiques in Lille (France) and the University of Pondicherry (India) as well as Research Fellow at the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California in Santa Barbara. His research interests include European citizenship, collective identity in Europe, nation and nationalism in Europe and constitutionalisation of the EU.