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Discursive study of religion (DSR) has become an increasingly recognised and applied approach to the study of religion. It asks: What passes for 'religion' in society? How do different constructions of 'religion' affect other social spheres such as politics, law, and everyday life, and vice versa? In this collection, Finnish scholars—many of them internationally recognized authorities on the subject—discuss DSR's theoretical underpinnings, map the variety of discursive approaches, and apply the approach to case studies of politics, spirituality, and history. The book can be used as a textbook for religion and method courses in various disciplines.

Preliminary Material /Asbjørn Eide , Jakob Th. Möller and Ineta Ziemele -- The Right to Peace Milestones in the Development of International Humanitarian Law /Daniel Thürer -- Post-War American International Law Scepticism: The International Criminal Court, Stockholm 1924 /Mark Weston Janis -- Peace as a Human Right: The Jus Cogens Prohibition of Aggression /Alfred de Zayas -- The Human Right to Peace /William A. Schabas -- Security and Human Rights in the Regulation of Private Military Companies: The Role of the Home State /Francesco Francioni -- The United Nations and Human Rights What Makes Democracy Good? /Lyal S. Sunga -- Is the United Nations Human Rights Council Living Up to the International Community's Expectations? /Markus G. Schmidt -- The UN Human Rights Council: The Perennial Struggle between Realism and Idealism /Bertrand G. Ramcharan -- Eight UN Petitions Procedures: A Comparative Analysis /Jakob Th. Möller -- The Legal Status of Views Adopted by the Human Rights Committee – From Genesis to Adoption of General Comment No. 33 /Geir Ulfstein -- Winter Break 2010: A Week in the Life of a Special Rapporteur /Martin Scheinin -- Legal and Judicial Shortcomings of the Surrogate State of "UNMIKISTAN" /Margrét Heinreksdóttir -- The Right to Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities – Innovations in the CRPD /Arnardóttir Arnardóttir -- Human Rights at the Regional Level The Council of Europe: A Champion in Monitoring Implementation of Human Rights Standards? /Petter F. Wille -- Flexibilising the Modes of Amending the European Convention on Human Rights: An Idea for a 'Statute' for the European Court /Krzysztof Drzewicki -- Strengthening of the Principle of Subsidiarity of the European Convention on Human Rights /Björg Thorarensen -- Presumption of Convention Compliance /Davíð Þór Björgvinsson -- The Right to Adequate Judicial Reasoning /Ragnar Aðalsteinsson -- Dialogue Between States and International Human Rights Monitoring Organs – Especially the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance /Lauri Hannikainen -- How Old Are You? Age Discrimination and EU Law /Allan Rosas -- NHRIs in the European Union: Status Quo Vadis? /Morten Kjærum and Jonas Grimheden -- Selected Examples of the Contemporary Practice of the Inter-American System in Confronting Grave Violations of Human Rights: United States and Colombia /Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón -- Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Prevention of Discrimination, Protection of Minorities, and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Challenges and Choices /Asbjørn Eide -- Minority Protection in the African System of Human Rights /Michelo Hansungule -- Indigenous Peoples on the International Scene: A Personal Reminiscence /Lee Swepston -- Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Development /Rainer Hofmann and Juri Alistair Gauthier -- Principal Problems Regarding Indigenous Land Rights and Recent Endeavours to Resolve Them /Erica-Irene A. Daes -- Traditional Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples: Preserve or Protect? – That's the Question! /Mpazi Sinjela -- Redefining Sovereignty and Self-Determination through a Declaration of Sovereignty: The Inuit Way of Defining the Parameters for Future Arctic Governance /Timo Koivurova.

It is generally recognized that in early modern society, the position of the church and clergy was very central. As many historians have stated over the decades, the church and state were closely connected and their power structures and ideologies supported each other. However, when studying the social and public role of the church and clergy, it soon becomes quite clear how pervasive this phenomenon was. The church not only created but also maintained and acted as a part of international, national, and local communities, structures, and cultures that connected people regardless of their social status and gender. The church was a spiritual, administrative, and social institution and experience environment, whose tasks, scope, and meanings changed and intertwined with the development, needs, and requirements of society. In this book, we investigate from different perspectives the motives and different means by which the church and clergy came to play a significant part in early modern society. In this volume, the church is considered both as an administrative institution and as a social space and cultural structure. Hence, we do not focus on the history of theology or doctrinal questions. Instead, we consider the social and public roles and meanings of the church. The church as such is understood in this book as transnational, a strong national and local institution, and also a space and structure. The church had its own institutionalized place in society and its activities and rights were defined by law (Church law 1696, the Law of the Swedish kingdom 1734) and by the decrees given by the Royal Majesty. The church had its own archbishop-led administrative organization under the Royal Majesty and it worked in close cooperation with the Crown administration and county governors. In this volume, we understand the clergy as church servants, a trained and appointed professional group, a separate estate (social class), and also as a wide social network constructed by their families. The approach of this book is social science history. In other words, the book examines the church and the clergy as an integral part of society and the individual communities who lived in the current Finnish territory during the early modern era. The topic is examined on the basis of three conceptual themes reflecting important new areas of research in the study of the social significance of the church and clergy: (1) the clergy and family as part of the community, (2) the church as a jointly built space, and (3) the church as an arena for interaction, knowledge, and politics. We approach this multidimensionality using different research questions, sources, methods, and theoretical approaches. The volume focuses on the 17th to 19th centuries, but many of the church and clergy-related phenomena are much older, and some of them extend to the present, so the articles also move beyond this time frame.