GOVT171C CM - Religion and Liberalism: Enlightenment Approaches to Comparative Constitutional Secularism

This course offers students an engagement with the major debates in political philosophy and constitutional practice over religion, liberalism, and secularism. Major themes include Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment debates over religious church establishment, toleration, and official state secularism; multiculturalism and religious immigration in the EU; and comparative constitutionalism and secularism in an era or religious revival and globalization. Readings include Enlightenment thinkers such as Hobbes and Locke, contemporary political theory (John Rawls), and theories of multiculturalism and religious revival and migration in Western liberal democracies. Case studies include American disestablishment and Supreme Court First Amendment jurisprudence, EU multiculturalism, and secularism in comparative contexts (focusing on Turkey and India).

Prerequisite:

GOVT 020 CM

Offered: Every year

Credit: 1

Course Number: GOVT171C CM