A new exploration of the troubled relationship between religion and democracy, focusing in on two key questions:

* how has religion engaged with the democratization processes that have taken place over the last thirty years? 

* how can it contribute towards democracy in the future?

These questions are tackled with clarity and rigour. Select chapters explore the ways in which religious ideas have been used to undermine authoritarian regimes and how religious institutions have provided the basis for resistance to such regimes. The reader is  

This book was previously published as a special issue of the leading journal Democratization.