Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics in Europe

The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics in Europe is an outstanding reference source to this engaging subject area. A number of developments at the intersection between religion and politics in Europe, including the terrorist attacks echoing that of 9/11, the rise of the far right and populism linked to anti‑Islamic rhetoric in the context of migration of Muslims into Europe, and a series of controversies to do with free speech and hate speech, have served as a catalyst for a surge in interdisciplinary scholarship. The relationships between religion and politics are increasingly recognised as central to our understanding of contemporary European life and are investigated from a growing variety of approaches and perspectives. Comprising 31 chapters by a team of international contributors, this handbook is divided into three parts:

• Theoretical underpinnings and methodological perspectives
• Actors, policies, and institutions
• Emerging themes and current debates

Within these sections, central issues, debates, and problems to religion and politics are examined, including: migration, religion in the city, digital religion, environmentalism, humour, celebrity and leadership, activism, authority, citizenship, mediatisation, secularism, judicialisation, marketisation, political economy, security, European parliament, human rights, party politics, populism, feminism, political violence, hate speech, bioethics, pandemics and health, cults, race, equality, and inequality. The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics in Europe is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies and politics. This handbook will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as cultural studies, media studies, anthropology, and sociology.

Effie Fokas teaches International Relations and European Affairs at the American College of Greece – Deree, is a research associate at the London School of Economics (LSE) Hellenic Observatory, and is a senior research fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), where she has carried out a number of EU‑funded research projects relevant to religion, politics, and law, including a Marie Curie Fellowship on pluralism and religious freedom in majority Orthodox contexts and a European Research Council (ERC)‑funded project on grassroots mobilisations around European Court of Human Rights religion‑related case law (Grassrootsmobilise, 2014–2019).

Alberta Giorgi is an Associate Professor in Sociology of Cultural and Communication Processes at the University of Bergamo, and an associate researcher of the research groups CRAFT and CES. She is co‑editor‑in‑chief of the Journal of Religion in Europe and sits in the board of European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, Religiogeographies, Polis, Partecipazione e Conflitto, and the Routledge book series Gendering the Study of Religion in the Social Sciences. Her work explores boundaries and classifications, particularly at the intersection of politics, gender, religion, and science as knowledge production. She has recently co‑edited, with J. Garraio and T. Toldy, Religion, Populism, Gender in the Mediterranean (Routledge 2023).