2nd series of seminars - 2009-2010 on ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND EUROPE
Thursday 4 March 2010:
"The role of religious actors in strengthening civil society and democratisation in the European neighbourhood"
15:00-17:00
Venue: COMECE, Square de Meeûs 19 - 1050 Brussels
The EU has more and more acknowledged the importance of ‘civil society' actors as bottom-up elements of political change. So, in the Neighbourhood Policy, the EU underlines the importance of people-to-people contacts as driving forces for reconciliation and democratisation. While not being part of civil society, churches and religious communities are closely interacting with it. According to their self-understanding, they also have a social and political responsibility towards the public sphere. Their impact depends on their perception of society, on their cooperation with civil society actors as well as on the respective character of their relations to the state. For instance, during the transformation processes in Central and Eastern Europe religious actors have played a crucial role by being a motor of change and providing shelter for ‘civil society' activities.
What lessons can be learned from the role religious actors have played in the transformation processes in Central and Eastern Europe in the past? Can both Christian and Muslim actors in the European Neighbourhood (Near East and North Africa, Far Eastern Europe, South Caucasus) play a similar role today? Can local religious institutions be mediators to reach out to a broader spectrum of grassroots ‘civil society' organisations? In what way do the relations between state and religion influence their potential for promoting change? In which specific areas would the added value of (and for) religious actors lie, how can the EU find adequate religious partners, and how can their involvement best be facilitated?
Presentations by
Prof. Dr. Klaus Ziemer - German political scientist, former Director of the German Historical Institute Warsaw (DHI), professor at the University of Trier and Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. His main fields of interest are: political, social and economic transformation in Eastern Europe (especially in Poland), Polish-German relations after World War II, politics of memory.
Dr. Thorsten Göbel - German political scientist, head of the Policy Unit of the organisation "Brot für die Welt" (Bread for the World), additional representative to the United Nations of the global United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society, Ph.D. thesis "Impact assessment of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives in the textile and footwear industry".
Dr. Amr El-Shobaki - Head of the Arab-European Unit at Al-Ahram Center for Politial and Strategic Studies, President of the Arab Forum for Alternatives in Cairo, author of many publications on Arab and Egyptian politics, political Islamic movements, French politics and issues facing European Islam.
Moderator:
Fr. Piotr Mazurkiewicz, General Secretary of COMECE
Synthesis of the discussion by
Róża von Thun und Hohenstein - Member of the European Parliament (since 2009), Head of the Representation of the European Commission to Poland (2005-2009), General Director and Chairwoman of the Polish Robert Schuman Foundation (1992-2005). She was involved in the democratic movement and Solidarnosc during communist time in Poland.
Simultaneous translation: English/French/German
Registration required- Proceed to the online registration here:
