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This course examines the interaction of religious
and political authorities, discourses, and institutions
through historical, comparative, and normative perspectives.
We will start our discussion with a
survey of the role of religion in the formation of modern
political institutions and identities, including the
modern state, long-distance and national social
movements, welfare regimes, and national identities.
We will then investigate various aspects of religious
politics, focusing in particular on religious movements and
violence, the rise and transformation of religious
parties, secularism as political ideology and movement
and the relationship between religious politics and
democracy. The course will
conclude with a review of recent debates in political
theory on the legitimate place of religion in
public life and in the political sphere. In the
course of the semester, we will discuss empirical
cases drawn from Europe, the U.S., the Middle
East, and Southeast Asia.
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