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The Impact of the Return of Religion on Theoretical Approaches to Democracy and Governance in the Social and Political Sciences
Author(s) -
Stoeckl Kristina
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
sociology compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1751-9020
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00284.x
Subject(s) - conceptualization , secularization , sociology , politics , secularism , secularity , social science , ideology , democracy , normative , secular state , public sphere , sociology of religion , epistemology , positive economics , law , political science , philosophy , artificial intelligence , computer science , economics
The survey article analyses the impact of the return of religion on theoretical approaches to democracy and governance in the social and political sciences and spells out the normative and practical implications of a post‐secular research programme on politics and religion. Reviewing the recent theoretical literature in the field, the author argues that there is a post‐secular revision underway in the social and political sciences. This revision leads to a re‐conceptualization of key assumptions about religion in sociology and political sciences: on the grounds of a historical and sociological criticism of the secularization thesis, secularity as condition and secularism as ideology acquire analytical significance. In a second step and drawing chiefly on works of Habermas, Rawls, Bader and Shachar, the author proposes that as a consequence of this re‐conceptualization, the relationship between politics and religion in democratic theory is best interpreted in terms of a post‐secular, deliberative public sphere in which religion has its place and that an appropriate research programme on religion and politics might consist in a normatively informed comparative governance approach to religion.