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modernities project. Both emphasize the monitor, co-opt, and intimidate political
cultural construction of the religious/ opponents; when these tools are used to tar-
secular divide, while Meyer enhances this get religious groups, Sarkissian understands
with an appreciation of the multiple ways these activities to be part of the state prac-
that this divide becomes institutionalized. tice of religious repression.
Koenig then traces these themes through The author observes that the 101 au-
each of the volumes case studies. He right- thoritarian regimes identified for her quan-
ly identifies the volumes core problematic: titative analysis fall into one of four general
how to decenter sociologys overemphasis categories: either the state tends to repress
on Western modernization while still re- all religions equally, the state represses
power while discriminating against minority who reject having a religion are not ex-
religious groups. plicitly included in the data analysis. This
In states repressing only some reli- exclusion raises a methodological question:
gions, like Bahrain and Nigeria, Sarkissian in what context should nonreligious repres-
observes yet higher levels of political com- sion be studiedalongside religious repres-
petition. In these cases, the author finds sion, or separately from it?
that governments are likely to repress only Authoritarian reentrenchment appears
to be a growing phenomenon, and
the groups they find most politically threat-
Sarkissians approach from the angle of state
ening in order to retain state power. The
religious repression is an important contribu-
lack of universal repression Sarkissian finds