European governments must struggle with assimilating Muslim newcomers into their countries, with so many more now living in Western Europe. Britain, France, and Germany have dealt with the related problems differently. This book explains why their policies differ and proposes ways of ensuring the successful incorporation of practicing Muslims into liberal democracies. Resolving their issues has become all the more urgent in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Muslims and the State in Britain, France, and Germany (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics)

Politics & Social Sciences

Soper, J. Christopher

Fetzer, Joel S.

Politics & Government

Cambridge University Press

European governments must struggle with assimilating Muslim newcomers into their countries, with so many more now living in Western Europe. Britain, France, and Germany have dealt with the related problems differently. This book explains why their policies differ and proposes ways of ensuring the successful incorporation of practicing Muslims into liberal democracies. Resolving their issues has become all the more urgent in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Responding to the “Asian values” debate over the compatibility of Confucianism and liberal democracy, Confucianism, Democratization, and Human Rights in Taiwan, by Joel S. Fetzer and J. Christopher Soper, offers a rigorous, systematic investigation of the contributions of Confucian thought to democratization and the protection of women, indigenous peoples, and press freedom in Taiwan. Relying upon a unique combination of empirical analysis of public opinion surveys, legislative debates, public school textbooks, and interviews with leading Taiwanese political actors, this essential study documents the changing role of Confucianism in Taiwan’s recent political history. While the ideology largely bolstered authoritarian rule in the past and played little role in Taiwan’s democratization, the belief system is now in the process of transforming itself in a pro-democratic direction. In contrast to those who argue that Confucianism is inherently authoritarian, the authors contend that Confucianism is capable of multiple interpretations, including ones that legitimate democratic forms of government. At both the mass and the elite levels, Confucianism remains a powerful ideology in Taiwan despite or even because of the island’s democratization. Borrowing from Max Weber’s sociology of religion, the writers provide a distinctive theoretical argument for how an ideology like Confucianism can simultaneously accommodate itself to modernity and remain faithful to its core teachings as it decouples itself from the state. In doing so, Fetzer and Soper argue, Confucianism is behaving much like Catholicism, which moved from a position of ambivalence or even opposition to democracy to one of full support. The results of this study have profound implications for other Asian countries such as China and Singapore, which are also Confucian but have not yet made a full transition to democracy.

Confucianism, Democratization, and Human Rights in Taiwan

History

Fetzer, Joel

Asia

Lexington Books

Religion and Nationalism in Global Perspective (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics)

It is difficult to imagine forces in the modern world as potent as nationalism and religion. Both provide people with a source of meaning, each has motivated individuals to carry out extraordinary acts of heroism and cruelty, and both serve as the foundation for communal and personal identity. While the subject has received both scholarly and popular attention, this distinctive book is the first comparative study to examine the origins and development of three distinct models: religious nationalism, secular nationalism, and civil-religious nationalism. Using multiple methods, the authors develop a new theoretical framework that can be applied across diverse countries and religious traditions to understand the emergence, development, and stability of different church-state arrangements over time. The work combines public opinion, constitutional, and content analysis of the United States, Israel, India, Greece, Uruguay, and Malaysia, weaving together historical and contemporary illustrations.

Religion & Spirituality

It is difficult to imagine forces in the modern world as potent as nationalism and religion. Both provide people with a source of meaning, each has motivated individuals to carry out extraordinary acts of heroism and cruelty, and both serve as the foundation for communal and personal identity. While the subject has received both scholarly and popular attention, this distinctive book is the first comparative study to examine the origins and development of three distinct models: religious nationalism, secular nationalism, and civil-religious nationalism. Using multiple methods, the authors develop a new theoretical framework that can be applied across diverse countries and religious traditions to understand the emergence, development, and stability of different church-state arrangements over time. The work combines public opinion, constitutional, and content analysis of the United States, Israel, India, Greece, Uruguay, and Malaysia, weaving together historical and contemporary illustrations.

The Challenge of Pluralism: Church and State in Six Democracies

In a thoroughly revised and expanded edition that now includes France, this essential text offers a rigorous, systematic comparison of church-state relations in six Western nations: the United States, France, England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia. As successful and stable political democracies, these countries share a commitment to protecting the religious rights of their citizens. The book demonstrates, however, that each has taken substantially different approaches to resolving basic church-state questions. The authors examine both the historical roots of those differences and more recent conflicts over Islam and other religious minorities, explain how contemporary church-state issues are addressed, and provide a framework for assessing the success of each of the six states in protecting the religious rights of its citizens using a framework based on the ideal of governmental neutrality and evenhandedness toward people of all faiths and of none. Responding to the general confusion about the relationship between church and state in the West, this book offers a much-needed comparative analysis of a topic that is increasingly a source of political conflict. The authors argue that the US conception of church-state separation, with its emphasis on avoiding government establishment of religion, is unique among political democracies and discriminates against religious groups by denying religious organizations access to government services provided to other organizations. The authors persuasively conclude that the United States can learn a great deal from other Western nations in promoting religious neutrality and the free exercise of religion.

Den Dulk, Kevin R.

Monsma The Henry Institute of Calvin College, Stephen V.

World

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Soper, J. Christopher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Soper, J. Christopher

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Soper, J. Christopher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Muslims and the State in Britain, France, and Germany (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics)

Muslims and the State in Britain, France, and Germany (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics)

Confucianism, Democratization, and Human Rights in Taiwan

Religion and Nationalism in Global Perspective (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics)

Religion and Nationalism in Global Perspective (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics)

The Challenge of Pluralism: Church and State in Six Democracies

The Challenge of Pluralism: Church and State in Six Democracies

Confucianism, Democratization, and Human Rights in Taiwan