Religion and Secularism in Party Competition in the Western World

Abstract

This panel focuses on party competition on religion and secularism in the Western world. Until recently, political scientists focusing on the West expected religion to become less relevant in party politics and, consequently, the religious-secular cleavage in party competition to disap-pear eventually. This expectation was particularly due to secularization processes which have proceeded in Western democracies since the 1960s. However, recent party conflicts imply that the question of a role of (organized) religion in the public sphere seems to have become a con-tested issue between parties again. This can be particularly traced back to increasing religious pluralization or, more concretely, to the establishment of Muslim communities and the en-hanced visibility of their religion in societies which have portrayed themselves as Christian and/or secular. Therefore, the new debates are not only about the legitimacy of the role of religion(s) in the public and political sector. Instead, the visible presence of the ‘new’ religion of Islam has also caused a party-political discourse on the more fundamental issue of national cultural identities. In this discourse, both parties that have acted as representatives of a ‘Chris-tian’ worldview and their ‘secularist’ counterparts have been prompted to (re)position them-selves. Furthermore, newly established right-wing populist parties have increasingly referred to “Christian” and/or “secular values” in order to construct national identities and exclude Islam by definition from this collective. The aim of this panel is to get a better understanding of the present role the secular-religious cleavage plays in party competition in the Western world. In this context, subjects of interest are especially the role of religion(s) in the public sphere as well as the significance of religion and/or secularity as national identity markers, but also other aspects touching, for instance, morality issues. Furthermore, papers are particularly welcome that apply an institutionalist perspective looking on the impact of national context factors such as church state regimes, par-ty systems or denominational compositions of societies.

Title	Details
Religion on the Rise Again? A Longitudinal Analysis of Religious Dimensions in Election Manifestos of Western European Parties	View Paper Details
Nationhood Vs. Statehood?: Comparing Populism and Religion in France, Germany and Poland	View Paper Details
Promoting Secularity and Christian Values: A Contradiction in the Programmes of Right-Wing Populist Parties?	View Paper Details
The Masks of the Political God: A New Appreciation of the Role of Religiously Oriented Parties in Democratic Systems	View Paper Details
The Multiple Uses of the Christian Orthodox Religion in the Greek Political System	View Paper Details