CFP: Reflections on religion in politics and the civil society

9de Belgisch-Nederlands Politicologenetmaal, Leuven, 27-28 mei 2010

Chairs

Botterman Sarah - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
Van Tienen Marike - Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (the Netherlands)
Ersanilli Evelyn - Social Science Research Centre Berlin (Germany)
Kortmann Matthias - Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (Germany)


Keywords
Church-state relations, secularisation, common values, diversity, social capital, civil society, ...

Language
This workshop will be conducted in English.

Session proposal
Despite a process of secularization, religion continues to play an important role in European countries. On the one hand, secularised societies are challenged by the inflow of immigrants with different religious backgrounds. On the other hand, (the Christian) religion has not lost its relevance for European natives either, Christian parties are still an influential political power in many countries, and the church and its rituals continue to play an important role in the life of many Europeans. The last years have seen a revived research interest in religion and its societal role
In this session we want to explore what role religion plays within civil society, thus what impact it has on social phenomena like social capital, social cohesion, and immigrant integration.
We invite papers addressing one of the following topics:
1. How have states responded to claims of non-Christian immigrants and what role do their models of Church-State relations play?
2. What impact do particular national systems of religious governance have on integration processes of migrants? Have immigrants been able to integrate through activities in religious organizations or are such organizations a barrier to integration?
3. What is the importance of religion in modern highly secularised societies? Are there still vital religious communities in more and more diverse cities? Does religion create common identities or common values in a society or in local communities? How can we understand the continuing relevance of Christian-Democratic parties in times of secularization?
4. What is the relation between religion and social capital? To what extent do religious beliefs shape forms of participation, trust and social networks? To what extent does religion create common identities or common values in a society or in local communities?

We welcome both quantitative and qualitative papers from a range of disciplines. Papers that employ a comparative perspective are especially welcomed.