About this ebook
This book examines the contemporary interaction of religion and politics in the Mediterranean region with a specific focus on democratization and democracy and the role in this context of selected religious actors. Individual contributions focus on several European countries (France, Italy and Turkey), while others are concerned with states in the Middle East and North Africa (Egypt, Israel, Morocco, and Tunisia). Among European countries, France is widely regarded as a highly secular country, with over 50% of people regarding themselves as ‘without religion’. Morocco, on the other hand, is a much more religious country, measured by the fact that an estimated 94.5% of Moroccans self-identify themselves as Muslims. The specific country studies were selected because, whether they are ‘religious’ or not, each case has current controversies involving both religious and secular actors which impact upon key political relationships, centrally involving religion, secularization and democratization/democracy.
This book was published as a special issue of Mediterranean Politics.
About the author
Jeffrey Haynes is the author, co-author, editor or co-editor of 35 books. He is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at London Metropolitan University, UK.
Guy Ben-Porat is the author of Between State and Synagogue (Cambridge University Press, 2013). He is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Policy and Administration at Ben-Gurion University, Israel.
