Events > Archive > Spring 2008 Individual Talks

“Transatlantic Differences on the Role of Religion in Politics”

A talk by
Karsten D. Voigt
Coordinator of German-North American Cooperation at the German Federal Foreign Office

Introductory remarks by
Victoria de Grazia
James R. Barker Professor of Contemporary Civilization

Date: Thursday, April 24, 2008
Time: Noon
Location: International Affairs Building, Room 1501

Description of Talk
Conventional wisdom holds that while the US is a deeply religious country, Germany and other European countries are not and that therefore religion does not matter in their politics. One of the contenders for the nomination to the US presidential elections (who has meanwhile dropped out of the race) called European societies “too busy or too ‘enlightened’ to … kneel in prayer”. From this supposed indifference to religion, critics infer a lack of principle in European politics and a hesitancy to defend the core values of the Western world against the new threats of terrorism and radical Islam.
Karsten D. Voigt asserts that religion, however, has more strongly, if subtly, shaped society and politics in Europe than meets the eye, and the process of secularization seems to have been reversed in recent years. Germany is no exception to that, he argues. Europeans and Americans simply have different approaches to religion, which are influenced by their respective historical experiences. In his talk, Karsten D. Voigt seeks to answer the question of how to relate religion to the principles of the Enlightenment and how to integrate more traditional religious minorities, particularly those of Islamic faith, into our postmodern societies.

Bio of Speaker
Mr. Karsten D. Voigt is the Coordinator of German-North American Cooperation at the German Federal Foreign Office. His interest in politics began at an early age. In the post-war era, he accompanied witnesses during the Auschwitz trial proceedings and took part in the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations. He has served as Chairman of the German Young Socialists Organization and was a member of the Executive Committee of the German Social Democratic Party and the Executive Committee of the Party of European Socialists. Mr. Voigt has also served as a member of the German Federal Parliament for the Social Democrats (SPD) and as a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, of which he was President between 1994 and 1996.
Mr. Voigt’s expertise is in the fields of foreign policy and security. Among his numerous other positions held, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin, the Board of the Aspen Institute Berlin, as well as the Advisory Board of the Center for German and European Studies on the University of Minnesota.

This talk is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR); the Institute for the Study of Europe (ISE); the Council for European Studies at Columbia University; Deutsches Haus at Columbia; and the German Consulate General New York.

“Democratization and Islamization: Indonesia's Non-Fundamentalist Sources of Shari'a Law”

A talk by
Michael Buehler
PhD Candidate in Political Science
Department of Government
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

In recent years a growing number of districts in Indonesia have adopted shari'a laws. This has been interpreted as a sign for the growing influence of fundamentalist Islam in Indonesian politics after the demise of the military-backed dictatorship of President Suharto in 1998. Analyzing shari'a politics in Indonesia over the last 50 years, Michael Buehler will show in his talk that the recent implementation of Islamic laws, however, has non-fundamentalist origins. He will then provide possible answers for why this is the case.

Bio:
Michael Buehler specializes in the analysis of local politics under conditions of democratization and decentralization in the developing world. He has a special interest in political corruption, machine politics and local elections. In addition, his work also engages with the literature on Islamist movements, formalist Islam and Islamic law, always with a special focus on Southeast Asia. His current research and applied work in Southeast Asia focus on the comparative analysis of local politics in Indonesia where he conducted in-depth research over a period of 24 months in 2005-2007.

His active consulting practice has included assignments for clients such as the World Bank, the UNDP and private sector companies. Recent assignments included the development of an anti-corruption monitoring and evaluation strategy for the World Bank Office in Jakarta and the establishment of a governance project for the UNDP that was concerned with the evaluation of administrative reform in Indonesian provinces. He has also been involved in the assessment of corruption risks in infrastructure projects in Indonesia, as well as contributing to political risks and governance evaluations for mining and oil companies operating in Southeast Asia.

Date: Monday, April 7
Time: 4:00 – 6:00 pm
Location: International Affairs Building, Lindsay Rodgers Room (7th floor)

This talk is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Religion and Toleration; the Institute of Religion, Culture and Public Life; and the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.

"To be Secular or Not: How Should States Deal with Religious Diversity?"

A talk by
Rajeev Bhargava

Date: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Time: noon - 2:00 pm
Place: International Affairs Building, Room 1512

“Pakistan : Current & Future Challenges”

A talk by
Imran Khan

Imran Khan will share his views on the current political situation in Pakistan and his ideas on how the country should move forward.

Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice), a world renowned philanthropist, a legendary sportsman (cricket captain of the Pakistan team that won the world cup) and Chancellor of the Bradford University in UK, Imran Khan is on a mission is to bring democracy to Pakistan by establishing the rule of law by restoring the independence of judiciary. He served as an elected member of Parliament from 2002 till last year when the parliament was dissolved. He has also established the biggest charitable foundation in Pakistan called The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Center, which has been awarded the Excellence Award by the WHO in 2005.

Date: Friday, January 25, 2008
Time: 3:45 – 5:00 pm
Place: International Affairs Building, Room 1512

This talk is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR), and the Association of Pakistani Professionals.

Please contact Shashank Mohan sm2726@columbia.edu or Zainab Mahmood zm2111@columbia.edu for further questions.