Asian Research Thesis Index

Abstract

Given the importance of religion for the vast majority of humankind, it is critical that conceptualizations of global civil society facilitate a positive engagement of religious perspectives. However, some understandings of religion are incompatible with the underlying rationale and purpose of global civil society. This research explores ways of promoting possibilities of consistency between the two. This outcome depends on how each side of this relationship is understood and practiced in each context rather than on any preconceived notion of what these ideas mean. Therefore a synergistic and interdependent model of the relationship between religion and global civil society is needed whereby each is understood in a way that supports the other. This research is conducted to support the mutually supportive understandings of religion and conceptualizations of civil society. This thesis explore global implications of religion by clarifying some contrasting views on civil society in general with a view to relating these to a more inclusive range of definitions of global civil society. Some of the difficulties of the process of such broader conceptualizations of global civil society and fundamentalist perspectives are discussed in order to highlight possibilities and challenges of the proposed approach. The contextual dynamics of global civil society, and the scope of religion in global perspective specifically, Islamic norms are main focus of this research.

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