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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Theory on State and Politics in Religious Peacebuilding

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In this chapter, Steen-Johnsen offers an overview over theoretical perspectives which allow us to consider how the political strategies of a state to regulate civil society influence the opportunities of religious peacebuilders. Drawing upon theories of state–civil interactions, she suggests that religious actors engaged in peacebuilding can be considered as being affected by political strategies aiming at regulating the civil sphere. Steen-Johnsen argues that the state and civil spheres are interlinked and mutually influential but warns against viewing actors in the civil sphere as dictated by the political strategies of a state authority. Religious actors should rather should rather be considered as purposeful actors engaging in the spaces given to them in the ways they find possible.