Panels on Religion and Politics — XVIII SISP ANNUAL CONFERENCE

XVIII SISP ANNUAL CONFERENCE
UNIVERSITY OF PERUGIA – Department of Political Science – UNIVERSITY FOR FOREIGNERS OF PERUGIA – Department of Human and Social Studies
11 – 13 September 2014
http://www.sisp.it/conference
Deadline for paper proposals: 15 May 2014
To propose a paper, please send a 100-200 words abstract to the panel convenors

Panels on Religion and Politics:
http://www.religione-politica.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=228:conferenza-sisp-sezione-politica-e-religione&catid=4:conferences&Itemid=4

1) Religion and Political Parties – [English and Italian]

2) Religione e relazioni internazionali (Religion and International
Relations) [English and Italian]

3) Religion and Local Politics [English only]

4) L’impronta della religione sulla teoria e sulla prassi democratica [Italian only]

Panel off section: Religion, Secularism and Politics in 21st Century Turkey [English only]

PANEL ABSTRACTS:

Religion and Political Parties

Chairs: Luca Abstract: The role of religion in politics is still understudied as a consequence of the so-called “secularization paradigm”, which has been hegemonic in twentieth-century social sciences. Particularly, the role of religiosity within political parties has often been neglected for two reasons. First, there is a widespread normative prejudice about the role of religions in democratic and democratizing systems, where they are perceived to be illiberal and potentially anti-democratic actors. Second, there is the methodological difficulty of defining them with precision, since the concept of ‘religious parties’ is often adopted to define intransigent, fundamentalist political parties. However, there is growing interest in the political science community about the role of religion in party politics. On the one hand, explicitly religiously inspired political parties have been playing a crucial role in contemporary democracies, at least since the rise of Christian democracy in Europe after World War II. Moreover, many parties which do not explicitly define their identity in religious terms – particularly conservative parties – focus however more broadly their platform on religious values or exploit religious issues in specific historical moments; on the contrary, other political forces take secularism as the milestone of their political action. Finally, Churches and other religious institutions and organizations, although not directly engaged in party politics, are often able to influence the activity of political parties through their lobbying activities. This panel aims at exploring such dynamics, by including both single-case studies devoted to national cases or single political parties, as well as broader theoretical and comparative works.

Religione e relazioni internazionali

Chairs: Valter Coralluzzo ( valter.coralluzzo@unito.it)

Abstract: È noto che per lungo tempo gli studiosi di Relazioni internazionali (RI) d’ogni scuola e indirizzo non hanno prestato alcuna attenzione alla religione, o l’hanno relegata a un ruolo affatto marginale, al punto da far parlare di un vero e proprio “esilio” del fenomeno religioso dal campo d’indagine della disciplina scientifica delle RI. Il fatto è che nel codice genetico di tale disciplina è iscritto quello che Scott Thomas ha definito “il postulato westfaliano”, ossia la convinzione che la privatizzazione della religione e la secolarizzazione della politica rappresentino un passaggio obbligato ai fini del consolidamento di un ordine internazionale. Negli ultimi decenni, tuttavia, a fronte del crescente rilievo del fattore religioso nelle dinamiche della politica mondiale, gli studiosi di RI si sono mostrati maggiormente propensi a prendere sul serio la questione religiosa. Da una parte, v’è chi ha cercato di integrare la religione nella teoria delle RI, sia interrogandosi su come (a prezzo di quali compromessi epistemologici) il fattore religioso possa essere incluso in tradizioni di ricerca (come il realismo e il liberalismo) nate e sviluppatesi sotto l’egida del paradigma della secolarizzazione, sia proponendo paradigmi innovativi o spingendosi addirittura (come Vendulka Kubálková) a proporre la creazione di una sub-disciplina che metta la religione al centro della propria analisi degli affari internazionali.
Dall’altra, v’è chi ha indagato le forme e la misura dell’influenza del fattore religioso sulle politiche estere degli Stati e il ruolo effettivo che la religione e gli attori religiosi transnazionali giocano nella politica mondiale e all’interno di vari scenari regionali, come fonte di conflitto e/o fattore di pacificazione. Il panel intende affrontare l’insieme di questi problemi, accogliendo contributi che analizzino il ruolo della religione nella teoria e nella pratica delle RI.

Religion and local politics

Chairs: Xabier Itçaina ( x.itcaina@sciencespobordeaux.fr), Alberta Giorgi ( albertagiorgi@ces.uc.pt)

Abstract: The relationships between religusually dealt with from a national or international perspective. Nevertheless, the changes in the contemporary political systems, in Europe and abroad, reshaped the hierarchies between the local and the national spheres on a number of policies. Specifically, the processes of devolution and subsidiarization of policies, as well as the cooperation between private (for- and non- profit) and public organizations (especially in the field of social services) under the horizontal governance perspective, increased the importance of local politics. The local scale is particularly relevant as constituting the arena where public authorities, private actors, religious and secular “third sector” organizations manage – or not – to constitute efficient networks of governance in the welfare field. These local arrangements constitute an implicit form of regulation of public life by religious actors that, in some cases, might not coincide exactly with the sociopolitical preferences of the religious central authorities. They also raise, particularly in the field of welfare, the issue of the externalization of social services from public welfare institutions to third sector organizations. In addition, politicized controversies on symbolic issues often take place at the local level – the debates over the localization of mosques in Italy, for example, and, more broadly, the issues dealing with religion in public life. At the same time however, grassroots religious organizations, movements and associations are playing an increasing role in Southern European territorial politics, thus developing new and sometimes unexpected articulations with social movements : examples are movements for public water and against discrimination, the renewed engagement of religious associations in politics and in anti-austerity mobilizations in many European countries.

This panel is a continuation of previous venues dealing with similar topics at the SISP Conference 2013 in Florence and the ECPR General conference in 2012. By doing so, we hope to foster collaboration between researchers involved in this topic. The panel aims at exploring the political involvement of religious associations and organizations at the local level, their social and political role, their networks and relationships. Papers’ topics include (but are not limited to): religious associations and social and political movements, third-sector religious organizations and local policies, interactions between religious and political identities. Papers dealing with empirical cases from South-Western and/or South-Eastern European territories and implying different denominations are more than welcome.