Notes Towards a New Geopolitics in the Balkans: Old National Ideologies vs. New Religious Beliefs

Abstract

The paper focuses on the theme of the “new Balkans religious arena” and its plural-conditional environment. Furthermore, concerning the religious freedom in the context of the dynamic evolution of the contemporary world, the accent falls on the diverging opinions concerning the status of the Orthodox Church and the analysis of the incitements and threats against the religious pluralism in the Balkans in the recent years. Here, the initial problem resides in the Balkans’ particular complexity, specific to transitory societies, in which the internal and external factors are combined in an often regional perspective requiring the involvement.

Keywords: pluralism, Balkans, religion, democracy, ideology