Tuvalu and You: The Monarch,the United Kingdom and the Realms

The government plans to amend the royal succession rules by making primogeniture gender blind and ending marriage to a Roman Catholic spouse as a disqualification for succession. Achieving these goals means that the UK is dependent on the agreement of the fifteen Commonwealth countries—the ‘realms’—that also have the Queen as head of state. The article questions whether these proposals go far enough when leaving intact other religious discriminatory rules hostile to Catholics and all others who cannot be in communion with the Church of England. It is maintained that a political disinclination to address and, as necessary, challenge the real as opposed to the formal position of the Church of England vitiates the government's approach. Moreover, it is asked whether the policy process itself should not become more open and democratic both within the UK and between the realms.     

Les populaires et le parlement italien (1919–24)

ABSTRACT

On 18 January 1919, Luigi Sturzo (Caltagirone 1871–Rome 1959), the Italian priest and politician, a Fascist dissident and fervent Europeanist, founded the Italian Popular Party (PPI) by pronouncing his Appello ai liberi e forti. The new PPI marked the entrance of Catholics to the political life of the country. Indeed, after the unification of Italy, Catholics had not been able to vote in political elections due to a provision issued by Pope Pius IX in 1874, the so-called non expedit, which had forbidden them from participating in the political elections of the kingdom of Italy. In the elections of 16 November 1919 – after the reform that led to the transition from the uninominal electoral system to the proportional electoral system and the extension of the right to vote to all 21-year old male citizens – the PPI secured 20.5 per cent of the votes. One hundred PPI candidates were elected, proving to be an indispensable force for the institution of any new government. The serious economic difficulties and the social contrasts, caused in large part by the First World War and by an institutional system unable to cope with the crisis, would have subsequently led to the establishment of the fascist regime. PPI members elected in 1919 were active in implementing institutional reforms that attempted to bring parliamentary representation to the real life of the country. This was to be achieved in the following ways: by renewing the apparatus of political representation, that is safeguarding the role of parliament as the central organ of a democratic system; by transforming the old constitutional model of cabinet government, with prime ministers appointed by the crown and chosen by parliamentary hybrid majorities, into a new parliamentary government based on the trust of majorities formed by parties with common programmes.     

My Space/Mi Espacio: Evangelical Christianity and Identity Politics in Mexico

This article analyses evangelical identity politics and more generally religious competition in contemporary Mexico through a specific focus on the construction, dissemination and imagination of space. The imagination and occupation of a particular space determines the specific identity of its followers. Since the identity–space construct is primarily anchored in the political, religious, economic and funerary contexts in most societies, these four rubrics are woven together to assess of the evangelical Christian space–identity construct. The paper furthers research on religious space creation, dissemination and demarcation amongst evangelical Christians in Mexico, and it emphasises the extent to which the strategies of spatial expansion can lead to rigorous intra‐faith competition and conflict.     

公民社会研究的人类学视角--R.Madsen教授的《中国的天主教徒》评介

赵文祠教授的<中国的天主教徒一个凸显的公民社会中的悲剧与希望>一书,从人类学角度进入到公民社会的深层研究,通过生动浅显的行文,折射出作者深切的道德关怀,但其中一些论点仍值得学界商榷.     

“Les catholiques sont l’élite!”: représentations de l’espace politique par une minorité religieuse au Burkina Faso

Abstract

The Catholic Church occupies a privileged position in the religious arena in Burkina Faso. Having invested very early in the public arena of the country, it constitutes a vital actor in the socio-political landscape of the country as attested to by its involvement in the domains of education and health and its positioning as mediator in times of crisis. Based on a field survey conducted among members of the Catholic community (members of the clergy, religious and lay), this article studies the manner in which Catholics in Burkina Faso portray themselves as a religious community in the country’s political arena. It reveals that in Burkina Faso the Catholics portray themselves as a dominant religious minority in terms of politics due to their disproportionate engagement in the apparatus of the state. The article also shows that the Catholics in Burkina Faso see their dominant position as under threat, on the one hand, from competition by the Protestants and, on the other, by the rise of Islamism.     

The Belarusian Orthodox Church in the Shadow of the State

The Orthodox Church in Belarus tries to speak out in support of the state and at the same time uphold its own values. It can be effective in upholding its own values only if it participates in public dialogue.