The ongoing secularisation debate(s) rarely focus on state secularisation, seemingly because of the assumption that the state is definitionally secular and so logically not subject to secularisation. From a less compromised perspective, the secular state appears as an American late-eighteenth century invention while the present day states of Europe retain significant features inherited from the formative period of the modern state when it took a distinctively confessional form – that is, they remain still in part religious.

The nation and the Church are never far apart in Europe. The Westphalian state-system defined allegiance and loyalty to the state as correlates of religious conformity. The re-emergence of religious conflict in Europe is the paradoxical result of globalization and individualization. The new social meaning of faith compels courts, governments, and the general publics to re-examine the old stability pacts between the national Churches and states. The belated secularization of the state is the likely outcome.

This article explores the theoretical underpinnings of the state-led establishment of quasi-monopolistic Islam Councils in Western Europe. The author argues that national consultations representing the Muslim faith in seven European countries share institutional characteristics with 19th and 20th century corporatist arrangements with Labor and Jewish Communities, and pursue similar goals of rendering faith and group ideology compatible with national citizenship while encouraging the moderation of group demands on the state.

During the era of George W. Bush, American religion was very diverse, including membership in many religious traditions and variation in religious traditionalism within these religious traditions. Both kinds of religious differences were highly politicised and embedded within the major party coalitions at the mass and elite levels. This pattern is likely to persist, but may not always benefit the Republicans as in the Bush era, as revealed by the religious elements of the 2008 election.

Health care governance constitutes the central domestic problem in the US from both a socio-political and an economic viewpoint. Compared with other post-industrial countries, it is inefficient, ineffective and characterised by an inequitable ‘particularism’ in dealing with different classes of citizens. Utilising the cultural theory of American exceptionalism, this article discusses why there is no compulsory universal insurance in the US, by reconstructing the structural developments of the health care system during the last century, and documenting the anti-social medicine ideological positions of the providers. The idea of a balanced combination of rugged individualism and reformist liberalism producing satisfactory collective outcomes does not appear to work in this case. There is a severe imbalance between the interests of the providers and those of a fragmented and stratified public thus far incapable of acting cooperatively in the pursuit of better collective outcomes. President Obama's proposal for a clearly defined and potentially satisfactory collective outcome is confronted by formidable resistance from the vast constellation of providers which will not be easy to dismantle.

This article consists of a short summary of the notable historical shifts that have accompanied the emergence of political science as an academic discipline in the UK. We provide an assessment of the state of the discipline today, focussing upon curriculum developments and quality, student recruitment, the impact of the Research Assessment Exercise, and the UK Political Studies Association’s membership and activities (with particular emphasis on the role of specialist groups and activities, which reach beyond the purely academic community). In doing so we draw upon data from recent surveys, reports and benchmarking exercises to illustrate areas of particular strength within the discipline in the UK and areas where more can be done to facilitate engagement and excellence in both teaching and research.

This article provides advice on how young scholars should approach academic publishers, and outlines how publishers go about evaluating, contracting and producing books. It gives important information about changing a thesis into a publishable book, and points out many of the common mistakes made when approaching publishers for the first time, and how to avoid these.

This article outlines and discusses the bibliometric indicator used for performance-based funding of research institutions in Norway. It is argued that the indicator is novel and innovative as compared to the indicators used in other funding models. It compares institutions based on all their publication-based research activities across all disciplines. Specific incentives are given to researchers to focus their publication behaviour on the most ‘prestigious’ publication channels within the different fields. Such aims necessitate a documentation system based on high-quality data, and require differentiated publication counts as the basic measure. Experience until now suggests that the indicator works as intended.

This article considers the introduction of an Audience Response System (ARS), with a first year politics class at the University of Ulster, to encourage student interactivity and participation via innovative teaching and learning technologies. Four key student-centred benefits are identified: increased student engagement, increased motivation and attendance, a progressive learning experience, and opportunities for self-reflection. Amid the concerns about students' political apathy and/or deficiencies in political literacy, the paper suggests that political science and the ARS might be natural bedfellows.