Religion and Legitimacy Claims in Authoritarian Regimes

Recent advances in comparative research on authoritarianism emphasize the importance of regime legitimacy claims both for the durability of the authoritarian rule and the policy outcomes of the authoritarian regimes. While religion is recognized to be one of the many sources of authoritarian legitimacy claims, there are no studies which would systematically discuss the ways in which religion interacts with such claims. The aim of this paper is to provide conceptual clarity on the matter and discuss the association between religion and authoritarian legitimacy. In particular, it is argued that it is, in this respect, meaningful to distinguish between at least five different types of authoritarian legitimacy claims: (1) Religious credentials or a “God-given right” to rule (e.g., several monarchies). (2) Religious nationalism (nationalism combined with religion, religious belief and/or religious rhetoric). (3) Secular nationalism (nationalism, which emphasizes other attributes than religion, such as ethnicity, culture or language and is often to a varying degree antagonistic towards religion). (4) Communism. (5) Finally, there are regimes where neither religion nor any other ideology which is for or against religion is employed by the regime, but the regime relies completely on other sources for legitimacy, such as procedures or performance. By discussing case studies from each of these five groups, it is argued that legitimacy claims of the authoritarian regimes are important, as they influence both the regime’s policies towards religion (i.e., regulation of religion) as well as the religious actors’ views about the actual legitimacy of the regime and thus their willingness to co-operate with the regime.