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Towards a post-secular political order?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2009

Mariano Barbato  and
Friedrich Kratochwil
Mariano Barbato*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Passau, Passau, Germany
Friedrich Kratochwil*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, European University Institute, Badia Fiesolana, San Domeico di Fiesole, Florence, Italy
*
* E-mail: mariano.barbato@uni-passau.de; Friedrich.Kratochwil@eui.eu
* E-mail: mariano.barbato@uni-passau.de; Friedrich.Kratochwil@eui.eu
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Abstract

The ‘return of religion’ as a social phenomenon has aroused at least three different debates, with the first being the ‘clash of civilizations’, the second criticizing ‘modernity’, and the third focusing on the public/private distinction. This article uses Habermas’ idea of a post-secular society as a prism through which we examine the return of religion and impact on secularization. In doing so, we attempt to understand the new role of religion as a challenger of the liberal projects following the decline of communism. Against this background, section four focuses on Habermas’s central arguments in his proposal for a post-secular society. We claim that the problematique in Habermas’s analysis must be placed within the wider framework of an emerging global public sphere. In this context we examine the problem of religion’s place in political process and the two readings of Habermas as suggested by Simone Chambers.

Keywords

international relationsglobalizationreligionJürgen Habermassecularismpost-secular society
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , November 2009 , pp. 317 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © European Consortium for Political Research 2009

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