Reconstructing Religious Policy Governance for Social Cohesion in Plural Societies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61860/amuya.v2i2.118Keywords:
Accountability, Religious Diversity, Religious Policy Governance, Social CohesionAbstract
Religious diversity can enrich plural societies, yet it may also intensify exclusion and social tension when public institutions privilege dominant traditions, restrict minority participation, or implement religious policies inconsistently. This study reconstructs religious policy governance as an integrated institutional process for supporting social cohesion while safeguarding equal citizenship and freedom of religion or belief. Using a qualitative integrative review and comparative conceptual synthesis, the study examines peer-reviewed scholarship on religious diversity governance, institutional participation, rights protection, interreligious engagement, accountability, and social cohesion. The literature was analysed through combined deductive and inductive thematic procedures, with provisional analytical domains serving as sensitizing concepts for identifying recurring governance problems, institutional mechanisms, and relationships across different socio-religious contexts. Cross-source comparison and conceptual refinement consolidated the evidence into four interconnected dimensions: inclusive institutional governance, deliberative and participatory governance, rights-based recognition and accommodation, and dialogue-based conflict transformation. The analysis indicates that institutional coordination may improve responsiveness, while participation can strengthen policy legitimacy and public accountability. Rights-based recognition and accommodation may translate formal equality into substantive inclusion, whereas sustained dialogue can support trust-building, mediation, conflict prevention, and collaborative responses to religious tensions. Public accountability operates across these dimensions by connecting representation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and institutional responsiveness throughout the policy cycle. The study contributes an integrated governance framework that moves beyond fragmented legal protections, symbolic consultation, and temporary interfaith initiatives. The framework identifies institutional conditions potentially associated with equal citizenship, inclusion, trust, constructive disagreement, and social cohesion, while its conceptual relationships require further empirical and cross-context validation.
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