ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book covers various issues concerning religion, politics and nation-building in post-communist countries: Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine. It presents a broad picture of religion and its contribution to state and society in the selected countries. Religion played a key role during the communist period as a marker of independence and/or resistance to the political regimes. The religious space in Central and Eastern Europe is a very complex patchwork of different religions, which are difficult to try and box with simplistic classifications. The relationship between religion and state can be a very complicated one. Religion may serve as either a supporter or builder of legitimacy for a political regime or as an oppositional force that can detract from the regimes sense of legitimacy among the people.
