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The idea that Australia developed a uniquely "hard" political culture after 1788 — a culture that prized the rational and made short shift of religion — has had plenty of currency over the years. This idea has been challenged in recent scholarship, along with the broader notion that Western society became secularised during the twentieth century. Set against the backdrop of a wider challenge to the "secularisation narrative", this article explores the work of several historians dealing with the relationship between religion and Australian politics at the turn of the twentieth century. These historians, who include Al Gabay, Frank Bongiorno, Bruce Scates, and Judith Brett, are creating "softer" understandings of Australian political history. As a consequence, I suggest, their work has implications for the way we think about the relationship between the religious and secular Left, as well as for the way we think about Australian masculinities and culture more generally.

A review essay on books by: John M. Kirk, Politics and the Catholic Church in Nicaragua (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1992; Daniel H. Levine, Popular Voices in Latin American Catholicism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton U Press, 1992); & Rowan Ireland, Kingdoms Come: Religion and Politics in Brazil (Pittsburgh, PA: U of Pittsburgh Press, 1991 [see listings in IRPS No. 76]). Kirk takes a traditional institutional approach to the study of religion & politics in Nicaragua. Emphasis is placed on the dynamics of church structures & their impact on the political sphere through church membership. The church in Nicaragua is largely portrayed as a political actor interested in accommodation & maintaining the status quo. Levine takes an individualized approach to the church in Latin America by emphasizing the faith & religious motivation of church members to take personal, social, & political action to better their lives. The rise & significance of liberation theology & the Christian community movement are discussed. Ireland utilizes a qualitative, ethnographic approach to study religion & politics in the northeastern Brazilian community of Campo Alegre. Politics is portrayed as a contrast between different ways of living & is exemplified through analysis of the community's three major religious groupings: evangelical Protestants, Afro-Brazilian spiritists, & the Roman Catholic church. D. Generoli

A review essay on books edited by (1) Fabio Petito & Pavlos Hatzopolous, Religion in International Relations: The Return from Exile (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003); & (2) John D. Carlson & Erik C. Owens, The Sacred and the Sovereign: Religion and International Politics (Washington, DC: Georgetown U Press, 2003).

Analyzes the limits of democracy in the Israeli constitutional regime in the historical & ideological context of its national identity. It is true that, like other democracies, elections are employed in Israel to change governments. However, it is suggested that Israel cannot be considered a liberal democracy because of the close relationship between the Jewish religion, nationalism, nationality, & the state. Rabbinical rules, courts, & institutions prevail in areas of the private sphere such as marriage, divorce, & burial. Moreover, gradations of civil rights are conferred on the basis of ethnic & religious identity. The very definition of the Jewish state is embedded in a conception of Jewish nationality; thus, a kind of tyranny of the majority is dominant. It is concluded that these conditions will have to be reversed before Israel can be considered a true democracy. D. Ryfe

Takes a view of Russia's treatment of sub-national communal groups -in particular, those who identify themselves as Orthodox-identifying and Muslim-identifying, in relation not only to their treatment by others within Russian society, but by the Putin administration. Begins with the drastic rise in terrorist violence since the year 2000, examining the principal actors and groups of such terrorism, along with those in Russia who seek to stem such violence, and Putin's response to terrorism, such as creation of the NAK, the National Counter-terrorism Committee. Raises the question of centralization under Putin, despite his public desire to decentralize power, and in face of a weakening of the border states of Russia due to separatism in a multitude of regions. With this comes the idea of a greater voice within the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the de-thawing of relations betwixt Putin and the ROC. Gives much attention to the Russian views and treatment of Muslims and other religious groups, in addition to ethnic groups such as Chechens and Tartars while concluding that the ROC will undoubtedly continue to mold Russian society and government as best it can. References. S. Fullmer