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Governing Islam in Plural Societies: Religious Freedom, State Neutrality and Traditional Heritage

Governing Islam in Plural Societies: Religious Freedom, State Neutrality and Traditional Heritage AbstractPost-Communist openings constituted the ideal foci for reimagining the relationship between the state and religion. Specifically, new opportunities were created to balance between rules of inclusion and exclusion regarding contending alternatives of a ‘good life’. In line with their new democratic aspirations, all Balkan countries have gradually reshuffled their religious policies, formalized religious freedoms, and institutionalized a more equal playing field for their respective religious communities. Realizing an all-inclusive and equal-opportunity structure for all religious denominations, however, proved neither smooth nor automatic, especially when it came to the inclusion of the historically marginalized Muslim populations. The evolving institutional choices to incorporate these communities vacillated between the democratic urge for religious freedoms and equality, on the one hand, and the role of founding traditions and heritage of majority privileges, on the other. This article outlines the institutional compromises to accommodating Islam across plural polities which feature an unusual mix of denominations—Muslim, Christian Orthodox, Roman Catholics as well as atheist and agnostic groups—in the post-Communist Balkans. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies Taylor & Francis

Governing Islam in Plural Societies: Religious Freedom, State Neutrality and Traditional Heritage

Elbasani, Arolda
Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies , Volume 19 (1): 15 – Jan 2, 2017
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Governing Islam in Plural Societies: Religious Freedom, State Neutrality and Traditional Heritage

Abstract

AbstractPost-Communist openings constituted the ideal foci for reimagining the relationship between the state and religion. Specifically, new opportunities were created to balance between rules of inclusion and exclusion regarding contending alternatives of a ‘good life’. In line with their new democratic aspirations, all Balkan countries have gradually reshuffled their religious policies, formalized religious freedoms, and institutionalized a more equal playing field for their...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
ISSN
1944-8961
eISSN
1944-8953
DOI
10.1080/19448953.2016.1201985
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractPost-Communist openings constituted the ideal foci for reimagining the relationship between the state and religion. Specifically, new opportunities were created to balance between rules of inclusion and exclusion regarding contending alternatives of a ‘good life’. In line with their new democratic aspirations, all Balkan countries have gradually reshuffled their religious policies, formalized religious freedoms, and institutionalized a more equal playing field for their respective religious communities. Realizing an all-inclusive and equal-opportunity structure for all religious denominations, however, proved neither smooth nor automatic, especially when it came to the inclusion of the historically marginalized Muslim populations. The evolving institutional choices to incorporate these communities vacillated between the democratic urge for religious freedoms and equality, on the one hand, and the role of founding traditions and heritage of majority privileges, on the other. This article outlines the institutional compromises to accommodating Islam across plural polities which feature an unusual mix of denominations—Muslim, Christian Orthodox, Roman Catholics as well as atheist and agnostic groups—in the post-Communist Balkans.

Journal

Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jan 2, 2017

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