*** ANTONELA CAPELLE-POGACEAN, PATRICK MICHEL, ENZO PACE (Eds): Religion(s) et identité(s) en Europe. L'épreuve du pluriel. Presses de la Fondation nationale des sciences politiques (117 bld Saint-Germain, F-75006 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45498331 - Fax: 45498334 - E-mail: info.presses@sciences-po.fr - Internet: http://www.pressesdesciencespo.fr ). "Mondes" series. 2008, 343 pp, €25. ISBN 978-2-7246-1050-5.
Religion has come to the fore in public, intellectual and academic debate in an ever more assertive manner over the last twenty years. Some will say that this is because of Islam. One of the merits of this book is to put the church-mosque-temple at the heart of the European village in a scientific way. Following reflection by the "Croire et politique" study group at the 'Centre d'études et de recherches internationales de Sciences Po' in France, the book analyses with tremendous delicacy - and equally attentive rigour, although this comes as no surprise given the high level of the participants - the reforming of faith groups, particularly redefinition of how nation meshes with religion in the European continent (not just the EU). Turkey is fully covered by this inter-disciplinary research.
The book aims to explore the background to involvement in religion by social and political stakeholders. It focuses on the shifting sands and modalities of the use of religion. The book's editors explain at the beginning that religion goes beyond visibility that is nothing but an illusion because in reality it is like one of the sets of rules that generate identity politics, explains the book. The authors feel free and entitled to use the symbols presented by religions in order to define self and others. They immediately state that religion has been affected by new legitimacy in a political area abandoned by utopia, used by default, with extreme malleability. Religion becomes a strategic resource in the service of a policy suffering from authority deficit. This statement alone is enough to shake a lot of received ideas, often conveyed in an empty fashion by media chasing current events, and therefore skimming the surface of issues. Where many still see monolithic religions, particularly Islam, the editors raise the alarm, explaining that within societies, religion can be the subject of different types of individual investment, with each person able to make use of the register as a resource available to help them marshal a world which otherwise they feel is out of their control, enabling them at least to challenge its capacity to locate oneself. Talking about the role of religion in society is certainly a complex issue.
Against this backdrop, the authors shed light on various configurations where religion is in decline in Europe, transformations in the relations between identities, religions and politics as they emerge at local, national and multinational levels. The essays show a group of common systems in areas where people often focus on differences, systems making use of processes of autonomisation and the individualisation of belief. This is true of old EU member states and countries of the former Soviet world. It is also beyond the supposed 'cultural differences' between Catholicism, Protestantism, the Orthodox Church and Islam in Europe. The porosity of political and religious fields is a second relevant, transversal dynamism, to such an extent, write the authors, that the well-foundedness of the unbundling of the two spheres in some theories is also brought into doubt.
To shed light on the different systems, I will mention three entries. Firstly, the place of belief in the recomposition of identity under way in Europe, with essays on the Islamic diaspora, nation and religion in Italy, the Scandinavian dilemma, the situation in Albania and the new polarisation in Turkey. Then the authors look at the debate and controversy concerning the new visibility of religions in the light of the role of Islam in Italy, the situation in Poland and Romania, and the schism in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Finally, the book studies the problems experienced by European, religious and state stakeholders when it comes to regulating religion. A definite must-read!
Michel Theys
*** AZIZ AL-AZMEH, EFFIE FOKAS (Eds): Islam in Europe. Diversity, Identity and Influence. Cambridge University Press (The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK. Tel: (44-1223) 312393 - Fax: 315052 - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). 2007, 223 pp, £17.99. ISBN 978-0-521-67751-3.
Devoted to the same quest for scientific rigour and nuances as the previous work, this book is just as enlightening and fascinating, both books running the risk of disappointing readers who like taking an impassioned or even ideological, over-simplified approach when it comes to religion, particularly Islam. Following on from a research project launched by the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, the book includes essays by university lecturers and researchers demonstrating that some analysts, particularly in the media, sucumb to the comfortable temptation of making use of Muslim extremism (the Madrid and London bombings, the assassination of Théo van Gogh, etc) and friction between Muslims and non-Muslims (over the veil, the Danish caricatures, etc) in order, as Effie Fokas writes in the introduction, "to produce or reinforce popular perceptions of Islam as a (violent) monolith'. Using a rigorous methodological approach, the authors reveal the "tremendous diversity" amongst Muslims in Europe, confirming Aziz al-Azmeh's statement that "there are as many Islams as there are situations that sustain it," whether national, local, family-based or interpersonal. Why decide to write about Europe? Firstly, because the exchanges in history between Islam and Europe have been characterised by tensions that have left traces on either side, like the weakening of the Ottoman Empire, pressures from a secular Europe for one side, and the fall of Constantinople and the siege of Vienna for the other. Nest, because the numbers of Muslims present in Europe feeds many fears. Finally, because Europe is a kaleidoscope of different policies and approaches to understanding religious pluralism in general and Muslim communities in particular. Finally, because Islam in the European Union is part of a much wider set-up and the re-emergence of tension between secularism and religions, of which Islam is a part. Urgent reading!
(MT)
*** ELISABETH KARAMAT: Christlich-Islamischer Dialog. Initiative Österreichischer Außenpolitik. EB-Verlag (25 Moorweg, D-22869 Schenefeld. Tel: (49-40) 4905180 - Fax: 40195233 - Internet: http://www.ebverlag.de ). "Schriftenreihe der Georges-Anawanti-Stiftung" series, No. 2. 2007, 248 pp. ISBN 3-936912-64-5.
The author of this original presentation of the question of dialogue between Christians and Muslims is a member of Austria's Permanent Representation to the EU's diplomatic team. It is hardly surprising therefore that the author describes the theme as an Austrian foreign policy initiative. After a lengthy analysis of the foundations and theories of dialogue between Christians and Muslims (it is worth nothing that the concept of the 'West' is very often used instead of Christianity, which implies a more or less clear but un-stated identification of Western civilisation meaning a Christian civilisation!), the author stresses the particular experience of Austria, one of the first European countries which recognised Islam as an authorised religion in the Balkans in 1912. But the book focuses on more recent initiatives, like Austria's interest right from the start in Iran's moves at the United Nations to try and get a body set up to promote a dialogue between different civilisations, which went on to create very close ties between the two countries. In 1991, the then Austrian foreign minister, Alois Mock, launched initiatives in this connection, inviting a Christian theological school in Austria which ad been training missionaries for more than a century, the Religionstheologischer Institut de la Hochschule St. Gabriel, to be a forum for meetings between different civilisations. The book describes the forum's activities, from the first meeting (in 1993) onwards, organised with direct financial support from the Austrian foreign ministry. The author rightly wonders whether this was inter-religious dialogue or political dialogue. The book then discusses a number of moves by Austria itself and initiatives taken within the European Union as part of EuroMed policy. The book takes an original approach to the question of peaceful relations between religions, putting forward a raft of fascinating new perspectives. Recommended reading for people interested in the subject. (GFr)
*** JO SHAW: The Transformation of Citizenship in the European Union. Cambridge University Press (The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK. Tel: (44-1223) 312393 - Fax: 315052 - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). "Cambridge Studies in European Law and Policy". 2007, 398 pp. £25.99. ISBN 978-0-521-67794-3.
Two of the rights granted to citizens by the European Union are fundamental, namely the right to vote in all member states and the right to stand for the European Parliament even in a different country whose nationality we do not hold. Following the rejection of the draft constitutional treaty, the author, a lecturer in law at Edinburgh University, looks at how citizenship has changed in the EU, focussing on the electoral rights granted to non-nationals. Jo Shaw starts by studying the concept of citizenship and how it is characterised in a post-national, supranational and international context, along with how nationality meshes with citizenship. She then assesses electoral law for non-nationals - origins, theoretical bases and the fundamental role it plays in defining European citizens. The second part of the book studies the past, present and future of electoral law. The author starts by analysing electoral law in detail, retracing its origins and explaining the processes leading up to the introduction of Article 19. Shaw then looks at the likely future of electoral law in the EU, before looking at the rights, apart from the right of equal treatment, that European citizens can benefit from when it comes to voting and standing in European elections. The author then studies the situation for people from outside the EU who are sometimes granted the right to vote in Europe, and seeks other ways of increasing their involvement in politics. The third part of the book considers national challenges to electoral rights and studies the attitude of member states to migrant populations. Jo Shaw concentrates on cases where the right to vote has been granted, showing that it can help integrate immigrant groups into European society. There are also state initiatives to promote the integration of immigrants, and efforts by some countries to reduce the number of new arrivals by establishing barriers to immigration. The book describes the most restrictive countries in terms of the right to vote, which are also the ones least likely to grant nationality because refusing the grant the right to vote leads, sooner or later, to the exclusions of immigrant populations. The research ends by analysing specific problems facing new EU member states, like the problem of minorities in most of the new member states and the geopolitical instability that has characterised these regions for years now. (NDu)
*** HAUKE STÖWSAND: Zyperns Beitritt zur Europäischen Union. Von Antrag auf Mitgliedschaft bis zum Protokoll der Beitrittakte. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Schriften zum internationalen und zum öffentlichen Recht" series, No. 70. 2007, 231 pp, €39-70. ISBN 3-631-56083-4.
The thesis published in this book is a very detailed legal study of the criteria for Cyprus to move in the direction of the EU and actually join the club. The Greek majority in the southern half of the island are the only ones who are actually members of the EU because the de facto separation (if not in law) of Cyprus into two separate political entities creates huge problems when it comes to the application of EU law, reflected in the Accession Act (law) analysed in detail in the book. In fact, Cyprus is still seen as a single state under international law, confirmed by the United Nations. This research compares and contrasts the obligations arising from this complex situation in European law and how this impacts politically on the negotiations under way for Turkey to join the EU. It is clear that since the collapse of the Kofi Annan Plan, rejected by Greek Cypriots in a referendum in April 2004, the responsibility for resolving the Cypriot conflict also falls to the EU's policy. The analysis proposed here describes the situation in useful detail. (GFr)
*** Europe's World. Europe's World (Bibliothèque Solvay, Parc Léopold, 137 rue Belliard, B-1040 Brussels. Fax: (32-2) 7391592 - E-mail: subscriptions@europesworld.org - Internet: http://www.europesworld.org ). 2008, No. 8, 218 pp, €12. Annual subscription: €30.
Launched two years ago by Giles Merritt with the backing of the "Amis de l'Europe" association chaired by Viscount Etienne Davignon, this publication is now available in French as well as English due to the input of the Robert Schuman Foundation. This issue includes essays by leading figureheads like Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. There is a raft of variegated essays on issues like the EU's relations with Russia, the role to be played by Europeans in the Middle East during the presidential election period in the United States, and reasons to speed up enlargement of the EU to the Balkans, Northern Cyprus and Turkey. There is a special report on financial services. (PBo)