Comparative or Multiple Secularisms? Evidence from a Comparison of France and Turkey

The post 9/11 scholarship on secularism and religion is dominated by the multiple modernities approach.This article follows a historical-genealogical line instead for selected moments of debate on the institutional relation between state and religion in Turkey and France.I show that in fact the historical-genealogical line of inquiry provides plenty of evidence for a shared political field of secularism between France and Turkey despite their different majority religions.Part of this political field is politicians in both country-contexts quite often comparing their country with other countries and contesting each other's comparisons.I discuss the analytical and theoretical return that an interregional comparison, and documenting contested comparisons in politics as part of this interregional comparison can yield for reflecting on the main premises of the multiple modernities approach.