Religion, Law and Policy Making: European Norms and National Practices in Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation

Description of the Conference

Eligible topics for the conference

• How do the national (regional and sub‐national) policies related to ‘religion and law’ interact with supranational (European, international and universal) norms, ideas, discourses, principles and practices?;
• Does the European Union advance a well defined position regarding religion in the spheres of law, cultural values and collective identity defining—in these realms—what it means to be ‘European’?;
• Have the attempts at cultural, political and legal Europeanization resulted in increasing ‘divergence or convergence’ of national patterns of religion, policy making and law’? How have the outcomes of the processes of Europeanization differed in pre‐ and post‐accession periods, and in countries within and outside of EU?;
• Have organized religious actors perceived the processes of Europeanization in positive or negative terms? Have they condoned or resisted the processes of cultural Europeanization? Are the secularist elements of the ‘Europeanness’ of the European Union being questioned by versions of ‘Europeanness’ as defined by transnational religious cultural traditions (such as Catholicism and Orthodoxy)? If so, how have the questions played out on the legal stage?;
• At the level of nation‐states, how are the rights of traditional religious communities, their cultural and political status(es), balanced with the democratic rights of religious associations, cultural rights of minorities, and moral rights and freedoms of individuals? At what dimensions and policies have these ‘national patterns’ diverged from norms and practices of the European Union?;
• How have the religious leaders and institutions conceptualized (European) law? How have religious actors and their secular allies reacted to the Europeanization of the national system of law?;
• Have the states utilized law as a means of social control of religion and religious groups—under the banner of protecting national security and other purposes—in ways diverging from norms and practices condoned by the EU?;
• How are religion and policy‐making affected by the layering of legal and other international codes? Are the stipulations of the UN (and its agencies), the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the EU (with its various specific programs and initiatives), NATO, CIS, and the like, working consistently with each other or are there contradictions and conflicts?;
• The Centre for EU‐Russia Studies (ceurus.ut.ee) at the University of Tartu, Estonia, brings together scholars and experts who share an interest in the evolving relationship between the European Union and the Russian Federation. CEURUS coordinates and sponsors a variety of activities relating to research, teaching and public outreach in the area of EU‐Russia relations. CEURUS provides stipends to Ph.D. students, enrolled in a doctoral programme at the University of Tartu, who conduct research relevant to EU‐Russia relations. The University of Tartu (the Faculties and the Centre for EU‐Russia Studies) acts as a host institution for externally funded post‐doctoral fellowships. CEURUS maintains a visiting scholar scheme and welcomes applications from individual researchers based outside of Estonia who wish to visit the University of Tartu for purposes of research, teaching, or institutional collaboration;
• Are there effects of general globalization on legal and policy development vis‐a‐vis religion? What are they and how important are they?;
• Empirical, methodological, and theoretical, as well as inter‐disciplinary, comparative and case studies are welcomed. Case studies have to be analytical, empirical data‐based analyses and must relate the case study to international norms or broader theoretical frameworks. Descriptive case‐studies will not be considered;

Guidelines for submission

Organizer

• Center for EU-Russia Studies (CEURUS), Universityof Tartu, Estonia
• Wittenberg University, United States
• University of Tartu

Information & contacts