CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Kandelaki, Salome |
|---|---|
| Title | The Role of the Orthodox Church in Politics and Democratization of Georgia and Romania |
| Summary | Orthodox Churches have played a crucial role in the politics of Georgia and Romania since the fall of Communism. While both institutions were initially weak, in the following decades of transition to democracy, their social and political influence grew tremendously. Both Orthodox Churches have exercised considerable influence over political institutions. This study exposes the ways in which the Orthodox churches affect political institutions. In so doing, it compares the two highly similar cases of Georgia and Romania by using theories of democratisation and secularisation. While seeking to answer these questions, the study employs similarity-based comparative case-study analysis and qualitative interviewing for exploring the major similarities and differences across the two cases. The main findings are that in both countries the Orthodox churches employ their social influence directly and/or indirectly to affect political processes. This has resulted in the emergence of a complex web of overlapping competences often at conflict with democratisation, democratic accountability and the separation of politics from religion. |
| Supervisor | Enyedi Zsolt |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/kandelaki_salome.pdf |
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