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Religious pluralization in line with participatory policy approaches has led to a new field of cooperative governance of religious diversity. This article explores the collaboration between state and (inter-) religious actors in two metropolitan regions in Germany, namely Hamburg and Rhine-Ruhr. Drawing upon qualitative fieldwork, this article provides a systematic analysis of discursive and structural measures of state-interfaith governance in the two regions. It clearly shows that state-interfaith governance gains in importance and is practiced in various forms depending on the contextual setting. Based on this, comparative case analysis shows that state-interfaith governance in Germany is characterized by (1) a prominent role of the established churches; (2) a potential of accommodating religious diversity which is, however, restricted by a narrow orientation of the world-religion model and the predominant focus on Islam; and (3) takes place in a complex multi level setting which calls for further investigation.

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In recent years religious pluralization has become a significant policy issue in Western societies as a result of a new awareness of religion and of religious minorities articulating themselves and becoming more visible. The article explores the variety of social and political reactions to religious diversity in urban areas and in doing so it brings together theoretical concepts of political and cultural sociology. The notion of diversity governance as joint endeavour of state and societal actors managing societies is linked to the notion of boundary work as interplay of state and/or societal actors maintaining or modifying boundaries between religious traditions. Based on two case studies the article illustrates two idealtypical settings of diversity governance: The first case from the German Ruhr Area stands for a bottom-up approach which is based on civic self-organization of interreligious activities whereas the second case from the Swiss canton of Lucerne exhibits a model of top-down governance based on state interventions in religious instruction at schools. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and participant observation the authors show how different governance settings shape the construction and blurring of boundaries in the religious field. Both approaches operate differently when incorporating religious diversity and rendering former homogenous notions of we-groups more heterogeneous. Despite of the approaches initial aim of inclusion, patterns of exclusion are equally reproduced since the idea of 'legitimate religion' rooted in Christian majority culture is present.

In recent years, the growth and expansion of interreligious initiatives have received increasing scholarly attention worldwide, and interreligious actors and repertoires are gaining relevance within emerging governance regimes of religious diversity in Europe and beyond. However, empirical research in this field is still very limited. With the aim to fill this gap, this special issue gathers four original contributions aimed at critically describing, understanding and reflecting upon the rise of the 'interreligious sector' and its growing relevance to the governance of religious diversity in contemporary Europe. RésuméCes dernières années, l'augmentation et l'expansion des initiatives interreligieuses ont reçu une attention croissante de la part des chercheurs, et ce à l'échelle mondiale. Les acteurs religieux et leurs initiatives sont de plus en plus représentés dans les régimes gouvernementaux émergents de la diversité religieuse en Europe, et bien audelà. Cependant, ce champ de la recherche empirique reste très limité. Ce numéro thématique a pour ambition de combler cette lacune en offrant quatre contributions originales visant à la description, la compréhension et la réflexion sur l'émergence du CompassGriera and Nagel: Interreligious relations and governance of Religion in Europe editorial2018 Editorial Social Compass 65 (3) « secteur interreligieux » et sur sa pertinence croissante dans la gouvernance de la diversité religieuse en Europe contemporaine.