Religion and Politics in the Globalization Era

Date: June 22-24, 2012

Deadline for submissions: May 20, 2012

Keynote speakers:

Grace Davie, Professor of Sociology, University of Exeter

Bassam Tibi, Professor Emeritus for International Relations, University of Göttingen

Leonard Swidler, Professor of Catholic Thought and Interreligious Dialogue at Temple University

Stephen Hunt, Associate Professor, University of the West of England, Bristol

 More information about the keynote speakers

Call for papers:

The Centre for Political Analysis of Babes-Bolyai University would like to invite you to submit a proposal for the international conference, Religion and Politics in the Globalization Era, which will be held June, 22nd-24th 2012 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. This event is jointly hosted and supported by Babes-Bolyai University’s Institute for Global Studies.

The  event  is  aimed  at  fostering  a  forum  for  cross-national  and  cross-cultural  debates  on  the  key  aspects  that  underlie  and  emerge  from  the  interplay relating religion to various aspects of national and international politics. The list of specific topics as guidelines for papers and discussions include:

• Religion and  democracy;
• Human rights and responsibilities in world religions;
• Religion as a source and supporter of global ethics;
• Religion: promoting violence or peace?;
• Religion’s role in the international system;
• Religion and ecology;
• The use of religious language for political purposes: religion and electoral campaigns;
• Religious beliefs and political parties and movements;
• Global poverty and religiously inspired terrorism;
• Public theologies and public policies.

While we encourage proposals focusing on the topics listed above, proposals tackling other issues at the intersection of religion and politics will also be considered. Papers may focus on all kinds of religions, “world religions” just as new religious movements or alternative spiritualities.

Paper submission and Review Process

Please submit an abstract of no more than 500 words (no detailed references) by May 20, 2012 to the conference organizers, by following this link. Abstracts should clearly state the purpose, results and conclusions of the work to be described in the final paper.

Paper selection/screening process
Papers will be selected based on a double-blind review process. Authors will receive abstract acceptance notice from the Organizing Committee by May 30, 2012

Full papers should be submitted by August 30, 2012. The conference organizers plan to publish a substantial number of accepted papers in an edited volume published by a world-leading publisher of social science resources.

Selected papers will also be reviewed for the first issue of a new academic journal entitled Global Perspectives.

Language

The working language of the conference will be English.

Registration fee

Standard fee: 100 Euro

PhD students fee: 80 Euro.

A short overview of our research project:

According to recent statistics and research, we are currently witnessing a global resurgence of religion, which caught most of the social scientists by surprise, given that until recently, the secularization theory has enjoyed a quasi-paradigmatic status within social sciences. One of the major challenges associated with the increased visibility of religion refers to the future of democracy. Based on the assumption that religious affiliation represents an important determinant of democracy, this project analyses the relationship between religion and democracy in Europe, using a comparative perspective.

The main objective of the project is to empirically find answers to the following specific research questions:
1. Does religious affiliation to a certain religious tradition influence positively or negatively the democratic attitudes and behavior of people?
2. What are the historical and theological elements which explain the nexus between the religious affiliation and the (un)democratic attitudes and behavior?

Thank you! We are continuing our work for the website. Meanwhile you might be interested in the research activities of the Centre for Political Analysis.