Abstract

This article compares Israel and Turkey to demonstrate how religious nationalism can be analyzed by a combination of historical institutionalism and conceptual history of religious ideas and doctrines. Both cases exemplify how the building of the nation-state was associated with the exportation of the western concept of religion. The resulting association between national territory, state and religion can explain the existing politicization of religion.

Highlights

  • At first glance, comparing Israeli and Turkish nationalism seems a contrived exercise, like comparing apples and oranges

  • If we turn to the political development outside the west, this article shows that the division of labor between the state as regulator of the immanent, and religion as the domain of the transcendent, which was the outcome of European history, was exported everywhere with the diffusion of the nation-state through colonization, trade, and wars

  • The particularity of religious nationalism does not lie in the fact that the nation-state redefined the rules of engagement between religion and politics, which happened everywhere, including in secular countries like France or the UK16

Read more

Summary

Introduction

At first glance, comparing Israeli and Turkish nationalism seems a contrived exercise, like comparing apples and oranges. Because Israel and Turkey exemplify how the building of the nation-state was associated with the exportation of the western concept of religion. The building of nation-states has been widely studied in and outside Europe and North America (see Nasr 2001; El-Affendi 1991; Moore 1966; Skocpol 1979). Most of this previous research focuses on political institutions, or the specifics of nationalist ideologies. Israel and Turkey consists of an investigation of the religious and political concepts of nation, state, sovereignty and of an analysis of institution-building which relies, or reinforces these concepts

Theoretical Framework
Islam between National and Supra-National Belonging
Contested Religious Behaving
Sovereignty from God to State
Conclusions
Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.