The increasing irrelevance of the secularization paradigm has led to the search for alternative concepts to explain the current state of the social and political influence of religion. Post secularity is the most prevailing of these alternatives and dominates the academic discourse on religion and politics. This panel intends to assess the relevance of this concept to explain current interactions of religion and politics in Europe, the USA, Russia and the Middle East. Panelists will address the following questions: What are the main dimensions of postsecularity that can be operationalized to survey empirical reality? Are post secularity and desecularization synonymous or contradictory? Is the religious/political divide still relevant in a postsecular world?
Chair
Jocelyne Cesari (University of Birmingham, UK/ Georgetown University, USA)
Speaker
Mariano Barbato (University of Münster, Germany/University of Passau, Germany): A Postsecular Middle East? Expanding the Postsecular Approach to Non-Linear processes of Secularization and Desecularization
Gregorio Bettiza (University of Exeter, UK): The Postsecular as an Analytical and Explanatory Concept
Jocelyne Cesari (University of Birmingham, UK/ Georgetown University, USA): Beyond the hierarchical divide of politics and religion
Kristina Stoeckl (University of Innsbruck, Austria): Postsecularity: conflict, not consensus
Fabio Petito (University of Sussex, UK): Engagement in International Relations or building a postsecular sensitivity in foreign policy
Jonathan Agensky (Ohio University, USA): Who governs? Religion and order in postcolonial Africa