Politics and Religion in Central and Eastern Europe: Traditions and Transitions

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This timely collection of 13 essays addresses a variety of aspects of political-religious interaction in the former Eastern Bloc. The studies reported here draw upon both quantitative and qualitative research methods in examining politics and religion in the former Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and in Poland and Hungary. Contributors from North American and Western, Central, and Eastern Europe bring a fascinating variety of perspectives and styles of analysis to bear permitting a dual comparative overview--not only of the different countries but of different approaches to the topic.

Reviews

The essays in this colume provide a useful introduction to the varying ways in which historically embedded interconnections between religion and national identity in several entral and Eastern European countries ocntributed to and shaped the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1989. Especially welcome is the inclusion in its purview of countries that have received little analytical attention from sociologists and political scientists...all the essays in this volume serve as reminders that religion continues to provide institutions and social movements with a rich resource and an anchor for culturally contested symbols and meanings...This book is a valuable contribution not just to students interested in eastern Europe or religion but to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the multifaceted ways in which culture both drives and constrains social and political action.-Social Forces
"The essays in this colume provide a useful introduction to the varying ways in which historically embedded interconnections between religion and national identity in several entral and Eastern European countries ocntributed to and shaped the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1989. Especially welcome is the inclusion in its purview of countries that have received little analytical attention from sociologists and political scientists...all the essays in this volume serve as reminders that religion continues to provide institutions and social movements with a rich resource and an anchor for culturally contested symbols and meanings...This book is a valuable contribution not just to students interested in eastern Europe or religion but to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the multifaceted ways in which culture both drives and constrains social and political action."-Social Forces

Author Bio

WILLIAM H. SWATOS, JR., is Editor of Sociology of Religion, the offical journal of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. He is the author, co-author, and editor of a number of books, including For Democracy (Greenwood, 1993) and Time, Place, and Circumstance (Greenwood, 1990).