Using religion and secularism for political goals: Political actors between secularist and religious strategies

Abstract

Political actors in Europe have detected both religious and secularist narratives as powerful instruments for political purposes. Whereas religiously oriented actors use religious frames in order to reconstruct political systems along religious norms (such as the AKP in the context of its aim to islamize Turkey) or to achieve certain policy goals (for instance, in foreign policy), secularist actors try to find a form of secularism that resonates as well as possible with the needs and preferences that are prevalent in the populations of their societies. Paper givers in this panel discuss the way religious and secular ideas are used strategically by political actors for their political gains. Topics that are being covered in the panel are the incremental islamization of the Turkish political system, the use of religion of both secularly and religiously oriented governments for foreign policy goals and the strategic shift of secularist positions held by secular parties in order to adapt to an increasing religiosity of the electorate.

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