The papers in this issue are mostly confined to the European area. Even in Europe, the heartland of secularism, the rise of political Islam and of nationalist Orthodoxy in postcommunist countries challenges the classic secular model. The picture that emerges from these papers is still blurred and ambiguous, but so is the reality at the...
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The aim of this paper is to analyze the theoretical and practical underpinnings for a potentially beneficial role that religion can play in strengthening counter-authoritarian groups and civil society in Central Asian states. Both fundamentalist and moderate standings on compatibility between religious practices, key Islamic sources, and pluralism are assessed. The present political situation in...
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This paper is an attempt to reveal how the law-making process confronts new problems that arise in the search for pragmatic solutions to state-church relations. The specific case study used is the Denominations Act, adopted by the Bulgarian National Assembly on December 20, 2002, which serves as an example of a meeting ground for secular...
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This paper focuses on the relationship between church and state in the Republic of Moldova, and particularly on the increasingly-blurred boundaries between the two. Given the fact that the ruling party is Communist, it seems even more inconceivable that a “union” between state and church could even be possible. The research presented here answers what...
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After regime change in 2000, the Serbian Ministry of Education introduced two new subjects in the schools: civic education and religious education. Representatives of local civil society associated the establishment of religious education in schools with a rise in nationalism and a split of the society into “believers” and “citizens”. Representatives of the church, on...
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This paper starts from the belief that the realities of post-communist world, including the relations between Church and State, should benefit from an appropriate theoretical delineation, which is currently missing. This is more relevant if one bears in mind the relevance of Orthodox Church in Romania due to its high legitimacy among Romanian population, in...
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In order to assess the debate concerning the constitutional recognition of Christianity in Europe, we need to pose the more general question of the role (if any) of the symbolic function of the modern democratic constitution in relation to religion. In the present paper, we differentiate between three stylized understandings of constitutionmaking, namely communitarian, liberal...
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This paper discusses the potential of the Christian tradition in Romania to offer a constructive answer to the contemporary dilemmas of multiculturalism. However, for this to happen there is a significant need for a fresh re-reading of this tradition. The starting point of my work will be an overview of the data on the question...
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Problems of European integration and governance are increasingly analysed from a discursive perspective. This article seeks to examine the reasons behind the increasing distance between Europe/European Union and its citizens by taking a discourse and content analysis approach. It argues that the current situation is due to a “communication deficit” as a result of a...
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