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"Birol Baskan makes a major and innovative contribution to the study of secularization. His comparison of one Christian (the USSR) and two Muslim (Turkey and Iran) countries is buttressed by deep and insightful historical research to provide empirical and analytic leverage for his penetrating insights on the paths to, and ultimate limitations of, state-directed secularization. This book will become essential reading for scholars of the three countries and for sociologists who study politics and religion."
—Richard W. Lachmann, University at Albany

"Theoretically refined and empirically rich, this book examines the intersection of religion, politics, Islam, and secularism from an innovative standpoint. The author separates the concepts of state, liberalism, and secularism and then creatively re-assembles them. For secularism, the key in this re-assemble is the state-building process: secularism is not so much driven by ideological commitment but material needs for survival in an uncertain domestic and international environment. Offering empirically rich histories, the author builds a clear typology of paths for state secularization—accommodationist (Turkey), separationist (Iran), and eradicationist (Russia) to explain differences in the state secularization. This book will be an essential reading for political scientists, historians, areas studies specialists, and comparative sociologist who are interested in religion and politics."

— Turan Kayaoğlu, University of Washington, Tacoma

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"Birol Baskan makes a major and innovative contribution to the study of secularization. His comparison of one Christian (the USSR) and two Muslim (Turkey and Iran) countries is buttressed by deep and insightful historical research to provide empirical and analytic leverage for his penetrating insights on the paths to, and ultimate limitations of, state-directed secularization. This book will become essential reading for scholars of the three countries and for sociologists who study politics and religion." — Richard W. Lachmann, University at Albany

"Theoretically refined and empirically rich, this book examines the intersection of religion, politics, Islam, and secularism from an innovative standpoint. The author separates the concepts of state, liberalism, and secularism and then creatively re-assembles them. For secularism, the key in this re-assemble is the state-building process: secularism is not so much driven by ideological commitment but material needs for survival in an uncertain domestic and international environment. Offering empirically rich histories, the author builds a clear typology of paths for state secularization—accommodationist (Turkey), separationist (Iran), and eradicationist (Russia) to explain differences in the state secularization. This book will be an essential reading for political scientists, historians, areas studies specialists, and comparative sociologist who are interested in religion and politics." — Turan Kayaoğlu, University of Washington, Tacoma

"Birol Baskan’s From Religious Empires to Secular States, accomplishes the aim of contributing substantially to the social sciences. He provides a thorough and critical review of the current literature on secularization. The book is well-argued and presents challenges relating to the development of the discipline categorical grid. Finally, it offers the original set of theoretical categories, which are highly applicable to intersubjective empirical studies on relationship between states and religion... it is strongly recommendable to scholars interested in state secularization processes." — Joanna Rak, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun

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