Suchergebnisse

Decentralisation and federalism are often said to mitigate conflict by better meeting the preferences of a heterogeneous population and demands for limited autonomy. But it is argued in this thesis that this perspective does not sufficiently address the ways in which conflict-ridden relations entangle processes across different scales ‒ local, regional as well as national. The aim of this thesis is to explain how it is that while decentralisation may contribute to national stability, it may simultaneously generate local conflict. This problem is analysed through a conflict in Kaduna State in north-central Nigeria where there have been outbreaks of violence between Hausa-Fulani Muslims and Christians of different ethnicities since the 1980s. Christian ethnic groups claim to be excluded from state benefits, while Muslim groups claim that Christians have undue influence over the state bureaucracy. The conflict feeds off ethnic and religious mobilisation. Expanded local political space further fuelled the conflict following the decentralisation that came with the shift from military to civilian rule in 1999. Decentralisation in Nigeria implies that the authorities should be associated with the majority ethnicity or religion in a specific territory. A localisation of politics accordingly raises the stakes in identity-based conflicts, especially as control of local institutions is necessary for inclusion in wider political processes. In Kaduna, this has led to demands for separating the state on a religious and ethnic basis. Actors make use of "scalar politics" to conform to or challenge boundaries set by the state. Social relations are associated with different boundaries. Accordingly, decentralisation triggers conflicts on an identity basis, involving contestation over the hierarchy of scales. While national struggles between ethnic and religious groups may be subdued, conflicts play out locally as decentralisation in Nigeria makes religion and ethnicity a powerful tool for political mobilisation. ; At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript.

The overwhelming importance of religion in French pol'al life lies in the fact that it has had such divisive overtones for the French pol'al system, despite the near homogeneity of religious identification. The persistence of politico-religious controversy has been largely responsible for the reinforcement & exacerbation of left/right pol'al diff's in France which has made effective aggregation by the party system a difficult, if not impossible task. SP relationships have been changing under the pressures & dislocations of societal modernization. The new pol'al generation of Frenchmen holds forth a possibly new era of cooperation & understanding between Catholics & the French left. Such a change could have momentous consequences for future pol'al alignments in France. The purpose of this study is to reach out beyond speculation & utilize recent empirical findings in the area of survey res & voting behavior to assess with some degree of precision the current impact of religiosity on French electoral pot. The findings suggest several trends. 1st, religiosity, defined as intensity of practice, still exercises a strong impact on partisan choice, & continues to plan an important role of fashioning the 'psychol'al distances' or 'spaces' that individuals perceive between pol'al groupings in France. 2nd, one can conclude tentatively that in areas of 'high' religiosity the religious cleavage remains important as a determinant of electoral behavior, while other conflicts such as anti-Gaullism are purely secondary. The opposite, however, is not true in areas of strong secularism or religious indifference. Anti-clericalism has decli:7ed sharply in electoral appeal, & has become irrelevant as an aggregating banner for left voting. The data suggest that in areas of 'low' religiosity, the traditional clerical issue was submerged by the operation of another dimension of conflict-the controversy over Gaullism & SE modernization. IPSA.

"Democratic Norms and Religion" published on by Oxford University Press.

United States. Influence of religiosity on party and political action committee contributors.

This book takes its leave with the realization that Western-driven culture is quickly reaching the limits of global capitalism, and that this reality manifests itself not only economically and politically, but that it is at once a cultural, aesthetic, political, religious, ecological, and philosophical problem. While Western capitalism is based upon the assumption of indefinite growth, we have run up against real, physical constraints to growth, and humanity must face the real, physical ramifications of the short-sighted and ultimately counter-productive choices made on behalf of the capitalist machine. While there is widespread angst and numerous scenarios of apocalyptic crisis and collapse, there is little or no comprehension of the problem and a coherent picture of reality is left wanting. Drawing primarily from the discourses of contemporary continental philosophy, cultural theory, and radical theology, the new materialism is being offered up as a redress to this problem by its effort to make sense of the world as an integrated whole. The book emphasizes three aspects of the current crisis: the ecological crisis, which is often viewed primarily in terms of global warming; the energy crisis, which involves peak oil and the limits of the ability to extract and exploit the cheap energy of fossil fuels; and finally the financial crisis, which involves the de-leveraging and destruction of massive amounts of money and credit. Each of these problems is inter-related, because money is dependent upon energy, and energy is a product of natural physical resources that are finite and diminishing. Rather than despair or the cynicism that passes for realpolitik, the authors will suggest that this crisis provides an opening for a new kind of orientation to thinking and acting, a new way of being in and of the earth. This opening is an opening onto a new materialism that is neither a crude consumerist materialism nor a reductive atomic materialism, but a materialism that takes seriously the material and physical world in which we live. This materialism counters idealism in its practical and philosophical forms, which constructs an ideal world that we wish to inhabit and then mistakes that world for the real one. Furthermore, in contrast to classical materialism which rejects religion as a form of false consciousness, this new materialism recognizes religion as an effective means of political mobilization and as a genuine source of piety, and thus does not oppose religion per se; instead, it opposes fanaticism and fundamentalism, including the fairy-tale expectations that a God or gods will rescue us from our predicament and punish the evil-doers while rewarding the righteous.

1. Religious diplomacy in international and inter-Orthodox relations / Greg Simons -- 2. Religious, cultural and political dimensions of winter-bathing in Russia / Per-Arne Bodin -- 3. 'Orthodoxy or death!' : political orthodoxy in Russia / Maria Engstrom -- 4. Shamanism, politics and ethnos-building in Russia / Olle Sundstrom -- 5. The approved and the disapproved Islam in Russia / Kaarina Aitamurto -- 6. Islamic opposition in Azerbaijan : discursive conflicts and beyond / Sofie Bedford -- 7. Religion and nation-building in Estonia : some perspectives on secular society / Ringo Ringvee -- 8. Church and state relations in Poland, with special focus on the Radio Station Mary / Konrad Pedziwiatr -- 9. Majority, minorities and religious pluralism in Romania / Catalin Ionete.