Dilemmas of institutionalisation and political participation of organised religions in Europe Associational governance as a promising alternative

This work begins with a brief analysis of my understanding of institution­ alisation, which depicts it as a conflictive, two­way process. This process involves many actors and is influenced by differential opportunity structures. It includes promises, but also poses risks for religions, religious minorities in particular, as well as for governments. Contrary to separationist rhetoric, all existing liberal states ‘define,’ ‘register,’ ‘recognize’ and ‘finance’ (organised) religions in one way or another, whatever their official regimes of religious governance. As examples, I discuss the empirical patterns of Muslim rep­ resentative organisations in several European states and the USA, before drawing normative conclusions from the tradition of associational gover­ nance, since none of these patterns seems to provide appropriate solutions to the many dilemmas of institutionalisation.