Conference: Religion and Politics in the Construction of the European Union

Religion and Politics in the Construction of the European Union, 16 June 2007, London School of Economics

This one-day conference explores the ways in which religions have contributed to the construction of the European Union, from the establishment of the European Economic Community in 1957 to today. It has been argued that EU enlargement – to countries in Central and Eastern Europe in 2004, the inclusion of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, and possibly Turkey later – is likely through a dynamic of desecularisation dramatically to transform the EU into a multi-religious space. Religions have not only shaped identities but are also influential factors in political discourse. This conference will analyse the activities of religious actors in the context of supranational European institutions and the ways in which they have responded to the idea of Europe at local and international levels.

Papers are invited to address one of the following themes:

• The Europeanization of religions within Europe
• The social transformations of faith communities in an enlarged Europe
• The dialogue about common and conflicting values between Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Humanists in Europe
• Religious lobbies in the European Union
• Religious parties and the European Union
• Political leaders and political religions
• Models of church-state relations in the European Union
• Religion in the EU documents: the European Constitution and national judicial systems
• Religious fundamentalism
• Religious organisations and European welfare
• Religions between national and European identities

Suggestions for panels and additional themes are also welcome. The conference aims to be an interdisciplinary discussion between established scholars and advanced doctoral students.

Please send your abstracts (500 words maximum) and brief c.v. to Lucian Leustean (l.n.leustean[at]lse.ac.uk) by 23 February 2007.

Papers should be of 15 minutes duration. In order to stimulate discussion, the papers will be circulated in advance to participants no later than 1 June 2007. There is no registration fee for attending the conference.