Secularism in “diplomacy of influence”: which French model?

November 14 | Moe Wada - Cem Savas seminar
Thursday
14
November
2024
6:00 pm
7:30 pm
 Laïcité à la française : le combat ou le dialogue ?

Presentation of a research project as part of the "Jeudis de la Maison Suger", a residents' research seminar.

Moe Wada holds a PhD in Human and Environmental Studies from Kyoto University (2022), and is a lecturer at the Doctoral School of International Cultural Studies at Tohoku University. Previously on a French government scholarship at the University of Strasbourg (2018-2019), her research focuses on secularism and Islam in France.

Cem Savaş is professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations (in French) at Yeditepe University. He completed in 2008 his graduate studies in International Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Galatasaray University. After graduating from Galatasaray University, he completed a master's degree at the French Institute of Geopolitics, at the University of Paris VIII. From 2009 to 2011, he did a research stay in Canada and worked as a research assistant at Laval University during 2011. He began his doctorate in International Relations, at the Institute of Social Sciences, Galatasaray University in 2012. After conducting a field study at the University of Grenobles Alpes in the period 2016-2017, he completed his doctoral research on French foreign policy, francophonie and cultural diplomacy in 2019. He worked as a research assistant in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Istanbul Esenyurt University from 2014 to 2019. Between 2020 and 2021, he served as assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Istanbul Gelişim University.

Presentation of the project

Twenty years after the 2004 law on religious symbols in state schools, France's liberal-inspired secularism, enshrined in the 1905 law of separation that guarantees freedom of conscience and protects the freedom to believe or not to believe, is increasingly losing its predominance. Today, the rise of regulation and control of certain religions in the name of secularism, illustrated by the law of 24 August 2021 reinforcing respect for the principles of the Republic, reflects an increased demand for security. However, this approach to security raises unavoidable debates about freedom of conscience, which is often criticised by other countries. This ongoing study examines French secularism as an instrument of dialogue, the importance of which is becoming increasingly apparent in the post-secular era.

Speakers

  • Moe Wada is a lecturer at the Doctoral School of International Cultural Studies at Tohoku University, and an associate researcher at the École Pratique des Hautes Études-PSL.
  • Cem Savaş is professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations (in French) at Yeditepe University, and an associate researcher at Sciances Po
Published at 26 July 2024