Religion in Global Politics

by Haynes; Jeffrey

• ISBN13: 9780582293120
• ISBN10: 058229312X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1998-01-20
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

One of the most resilient ideas about societal development after World War II was that nations would inevitably secularise as they modernised. However, as we come to the end of the 'secular' twentieth century, it is obvious that religion continues to be an important factor in politics around the world. The author examines the continuing importance of religion, focusing upon the regions of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
1 Introduction	1	(19)
Religion and politics defined	4	(2)
Church and State in comparative perspective	6	(6)
Explaining religious deprivatization	12	(7)
Conclusion	19	(1)
2 The United States of America: bucking the trend of Western secularization?	20	(22)
Civil religion and Church-State relations	21	(2)
Religious pluralism and politics	23	(4)
Secularization and politics in America	27	(1)
The New Christian Right	28	(5)
US Catholicism: from private to public denomination	33	(4)
The Nation of Islam	37	(3)
Conclusion	40	(2)
3 Latin America: Catholic hegemony under attack	42	(21)
Catholic Church-State relations	43	(3)
The Medellin conference and the popular Church	46	(2)
Base Christian communities	48	(1)
Ideological conflict in the Catholic Church in the 1980s	49	(2)
The evangelical Protestant challenge	51	(5)
Protestants and politics	56	(5)
Conclusion	61	(2)
4 Western Europe: secularization and the religious response	63	(23)
Church-State relations	64	(1)
Churches and secularization	65	(3)
Case studies	68	(7)
Resisting secularization: religion and politics in Northern Ireland and among Muslims in Western Europe	75	(9)
Conclusion	84	(2)
5 Eastern Europe: from communism to belief	86	(19)
Church and State during the communist era	89	(2)
Religion and nationalism in the USSR's satellites	91	(1)
Churches and opposition in Poland, East Germany and Russia	92	(11)
Conclusion	103	(2)
6 Africa: religious competition and State power	105	(20)
Religion and politics during the colonial era	105	(4)
Church-State relations: 1960s to 1980s	109	(6)
Religion and democratic change	115	(4)
National Muslim organizations and political change	119	(4)
Conclusion	123	(2)
7 The Middle East: religions in collision	125	(23)
Islam and Judaism in political perspective	127	(5)
Religion and Politics in Israel	132	(4)
Islamist movements in Egypt, Algeria and Turkey	136	(10)
Conclusion	146	(2)
8 Central Asia: the return of Islam to politics after communism	148	(20)
Islam in Central Asia: the impact of the 1917 revolution	151	(3)
Political Islam in Central Asia after the USSR	154	(4)
Case studies: political Islam in Central Asia	158	(8)
Conclusion	166	(2)
9 Politics and religion in India: Hindu and Sikh nationalism	168	(20)
What is Hinduism?	171	(2)
Hindus and politics in pre-modern India	173	(1)
Hinduism and nationalism	174	(1)
Hindu nationalism and politics in the 1980s and 1990s	175	(2)
The genesis and appeal of Hindu nationalism	177	(6)
Sikhs and politics	183	(3)
Conclusion	186	(2)
10 Buddhism and politics in South-east Asia	188	(21)
The essentials of Buddhism	189	(2)
Therevada Buddhism and politics in South-east Asia	191	(5)
Case studies: Thailand, Burma and Cambodia	196	(11)
Conclusion	207	(2)
11 Conclusions	209	(12)
Post-modernism and the socio-political salience of religion	210	(4)
The complexities of secularization in the post-modern world	214	(2)
Religious resistance to secularization	216	(5)
References	221	(17)
Index	238