Religious Politics of Post-Soviet States: Between Path Dependence and Governmentality

Religious Politics of Post-Soviet States:
Between Path Dependence and Governmentality


Malakhov V.S.,

The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), Moscow, Russia, vmalachov@yandex.ru


elibrary_id: 223604 |

Letnyakov D.E.,

The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), Moscow, Russia, letnyakov@mail.ru


elibrary_id: 588916 |


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2021.04.12

For citation:

Malakhov V.S., Letnyakov D.E. Religious Politics of Post-Soviet States: Between Path Dependence and Governmentality. – Polis. Political Studies. 2021. No. 4. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2021.04.12


The reported study was funded by RFBR and CASS according to the research project №19-511-93003. The authors are grateful for help with the text to Maria S. Ivchenkova, senior researcher, Institute of Sociology FCTAS RAS.


Abstract

The subject of this article is the relationship between state and church in post-Soviet countries. The authors claim that the term “post-Soviet” is not a mere reflection of a chronological sequence, but is a concept with deep semantics. The nation states that came into being after the USSR collapsed in 1991 share a common institutional legacy. One of the manifestations of this legacy is their behavior in the religious field. The religious policies of the post-Soviet countries reveal significant similarities, despite the deep differences between the countries in terms of history and culture. In particular, the post-Soviet states belonging to the Islamic cultural realm demonstrate Soviet standards in their religious policy. However, the analytical identification of the “post-Soviet model” of secularism is not to imply blindness to differences in the strategies of specific states in managing religion. Addressing these differences, the authors single out three basic types of post-Soviet secularism: “authoritarian”, “neutral”, and “ambivalent”. 

Keywords
religious policy, church-state relations, secularism, church, Islam, post-Soviet space, Russia, path dependence, governmentality.


References

Abramson D. 2010. Foreign Religious Education and the Central Asian Islamic Revival: Impact and Prospects for Stability. Silk Road Papers. 50 p.

Achilov D. 2012. Islamic Education in Central Asia: Evidence from Kazakhstan. – Asia Policy. No. 14. P. 79-106. https://doi.org/10.1353/asp.2012.0024

Agadjanian A. 2006. The Search for Privacy and the Return of a Grand Narrative: Religion in a Post Communist Society. – Social Compass. Vol. 53. No. 2. P. 169-184. https://doi.org/10.1177/0037768606064318

Agadjanian A. 2015. Vulnerable Post-Soviet Secularities: Patterns and Dynamics in Russia and Beyond. – Multiple Secularities Beyond the West. Religion and Modernity in the Global Age. Ed. by M. Burchardt, M. Wohlrab-Sahr, M. Middell. Boston: de Gruyter. P. 241-260. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614514053.241

Alexander G. 2001. Institutions, Path Dependence and Democratic Consolidation. – Journal of Theoretical Politics. Vol. 13. No. 3. P. 249-270. https://doi.org/10.1177/095169280101300302

Bridges A. 2000. Path Dependence, Sequence, History, Theory. – Studies in American Political Development. Vol. 14. No. 1. P. 109-112. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0898588x00213047

Buchenau K. 2015. Socialist Secularities: The Diversity of Universalist Model. – Multiple Secularities Beyond the West. Religion and Modernity in the Global Age. Ed. by M. Burchardt, M. Wohlrab-Sahr, M. Middell. Boston: de Gruyter. P. 261-282. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614514053.261

Casanova J. 1998. Ethno-Linguistic and Religious Pluralism and Democratic Construction in Ukraine. – Post-Soviet Political Order. Conflict and State Building. Ed. by B.R. Rubin, J. Snyder. London, New York: Routledge. P. 81-103. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203067338-12

Cornell S.E., Starr S.F., Tucker J. 2018. Religion and the Secular State in Kazakhstan. Silk Road Papers. 98 p.

Cornel S.E., Zenn J. 2018. Religion and the Secular State in Uzbekistan. Silk Road Papers. 45 p.

Central Asia: Islam and the State. 2003. ICG Asia Report N°59. Osh–Brussels. 39 p.

Dean M. 2010. Governmentality: Power and Rule in Modern Society. London: Sage. 305 p.

Engvall J. 2020. Religion and the Secular State in Kyrgyzstan. Silk Road Papers. 57 p.

Gleason A. 2010. Eurasia: What is it? Is it? – Journal of Eurasian Studies. Vol. 1. No. 1. P. 26-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euras.2009.11.002

Islam, Society, and Politics in Central Asia. 2017. Ed. by P.J. Luong. Pittsburg: University of Pittsburg Press. 392 p.

Keller Sh. 2001. To Moscow, Not Mecca: The Soviet Campaign against Islam in Central Asia, 1917-1941. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. 277 p. https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/109.1.291

Kubicek P. 2009. The Commonwealth of Independent States: An Example of Failed Regionalism? – Review of International Studies. Vol. 35. P. 237-256. https://doi.org/10.1017/s026021050900850x

Lisovskaya E., Karpov V. 2010. Orthodoxy, Islam and Desecularization of Russia’s State Schools. – Politics and Religion. Vol. 3. No. 2. P. 276-302. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1755048310000040

Mahoney J. 2000. Path Dependence in Historical Sociology. – Theory and Society. Vol. 29. No. 4. P. 507-548.

Mahoney J. 2001. Path-Dependent Explanations of Regime Change: Central America in Comparative Perspective. – Studies in American Political Development. Vol. 36. No. 1. P. 111–141. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02687587

Matosyan T. 2015. Church as Civil Society? Recent Issues of Religion and Politics in Armenia. – Caucasus Analytical Digest. No. 72. P. 9-12.

Minesashvili S. 2017. The Orthodox Church in the Democratization Process in Georgia: Hindrance or Support? – Caucasus Analytical Digest. No. 97. P. 6-9.

Nikitin A. 2008. Russian Foreign Policy in the Fragmented post-Soviet Space. – International Journal on World Peace. Vol. 25. No. 2. P. 7-31.

Pierson P. 2000. Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics. – American Political Science Review. Vol. 94. No. 2. P. 251-267. https://doi.org/10.2307/2586011

Platt K. 2009. The Post-Soviet is Over: On Reading the Ruins. – Republics of Letters: A Journal for the Study of Knowledge, Politics, and the Arts. Vol. 1. No. 1. P. 1-22.

Rodin L. 2017. Studies on Governmentality: Six Epistemological Pitfalls. – Russian Sociological Review. Vol. 16. No. 2. P. 9-28. https://doi.org/10.17323/1728-192x-2017-2-9-28

Ro’i Y., Wainer A. 2009. Muslim Identity and Islamic Practice in Post-Soviet Central Asia. – Central Asian Survey. Vol. 28. No. 3. P. 303-322. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634930903421863

Tazmini G. 2001. The Islamic Revival in Central Asia: A Potent Force or a Misconception? – Central Asian Survey. Vol. 20. No. 1. P. 63-83. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634930120055460

Thibault H. 2013. The Secular and the Religious in Tajikistan: Contested Political Spaces. – Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses. Vol. 42. No. 2. P. 173-189. https://doi.org/10.1177/0008429813479297

Turcescu L., Stan L. 2003. Church–State Conflict in Moldova: the Bessarabian Metropolitanate. – Communist and Post-Communist Studies. Vol. 36. No. 4. P. 443-465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2003.09.004

Zainiddinov H. 2018. Islamic Education in Tajikistan. – Handbook of Islamic Education. Ed. by H. Daun, R. Arjmand. Cham: Springer. P. 699-711. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64683-1_46

 

Charkviani T., Chelidze A. 2016. Debating the Limits of the Georgian Church’s Participation in Public Life. – Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov’ v Rossii i za rubezhom. No. 2. P. 107-132. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2016-34-2-107-132

Khalid A. 2010. Islam posle kommunizma: religiya i politika v Tsentral’noi Azii [Islam After Comminism: Religious and Politics in Central Asia]. Moscow: New Literary Observer. 298 p. (In Russ.)

Luk’yanov F. 2017. Transformation of the Post-Soviet Space. – Russian International Affairs Council. (In Russ.) URL: https://russiancouncil.ru/analytics-and-comments/interview/transformatsiya-postsovetskogoprostranstva/

(accessed 13.05.2021).

Malakhov V.S., Letnyakov D.E. 2018. Shimmering Secularism: Religion in Russian Public Space. – Polis. Political Studies. No. 1. P. 135-149. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2020.01.10

Malashenko A., Kolesnikov A. 2012. The Post-Soviet Space Doesn’t Exist. – Carnegie Moscow Centre. (In Russ.) URL: https://carnegie.ru/2012/06/08/ru-pub-48498 (accessed 13.05.2021).

Markin K.V. 2018. Between Belief and Unbelief: Non-practicing Orthodox Christians in the Context of Russian Sociology of Religion. – Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes. No. 2. P. 266-282. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2018.2.16

Nureev R.M., Latov Yu.V. 2006. What Is ‘Path Dependence’ and How Russian Economists Study It. – Social Sciences and Contemporary World. No. 2. P. 118-129. (In Russ.)

Ogannisyan O. 2013. Church – Post-secular or Post-sacral. – Pro et Contra. No. 3-4. P. 59-74. (In Russ.)

Vasilevich N. 2013. Belarusian Orthodox Church in the Shadow of the State. – Pro et Contra. No. 5. P. 80-92. (In Russ.) 

Content No. 4, 2021

See also:


Zubov A.B.,
Christians and Politics: Persecuting Church and Persecuted Church. Why Will All Who Seek Living in Christ, Will Be Persecuted?. – Polis. Political Studies. 2008. No2


SOCIUM AND POWER: POST-SOVIET EXPANSE. – Polis. Political Studies. 2001. No4

Abazov R.F.,
Central Asia: Islam and Politics. – Polis. Political Studies. 1992. No4

Habermas J.,
Religion, law and politics. – On political justice in a multicultural World-Society. – Polis. Political Studies. 2010. No2

Bespalov S.V.,
Prospects of realization of Russia’s geopolitical interests on the post-soviet space. – Polis. Political Studies. 2011. No2

 

   

Introducing an article



Polis. Political Studies
3 2004


Ilyinskaya S.G.
Toleration and Political Violence

 The article text
 

Archive

   2024      2023      2022      2021   
   2020      2019      2018      2017      2016   
   2015      2014      2013      2012      2011   
   2010      2009      2008      2007      2006   
   2005      2004      2003      2002      2001   
   2000      1999      1998      1997      1996   
   1995      1994      1993      1992      1991