Secular-Religious Cleavage and Party Competition in Comparative Perspective

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Secular-religious party competition and the potential dominance of religion-based parties, once considered belonging to the past or exclusive to Muslim-majority countries, are gaining prominence worldwide. From North America to Southeast Asia, many countries witness party organizations and platforms polarizing along the secular-religious spectrum. This panel aims to unite scholars who have explored this cleavage not only from the perspective of religious parties but also by considering both sides of the cleavage through a comparative and/or system-level approach that also focuses on secular parties. By assembling scholars with diverse perspectives working on various countries, we aspire to develop more comprehensive hypotheses and theories addressing four critical questions: Under what conditions do secular parties succeed against religious rivals?; What, if any, is the relationship between right-wing populism and religiosity?; How do Christian Democratic Parties mobilize support in the increasingly secularized European societies?; What are the institutional mechanisms that sustain salient secular-religious cleavages? The papers approach these questions using qualitative and quantitative evidence from a diverse set of contexts including Europe, Middle East and North Africa, as well as South Asia.

Sub Unit

• Division 33: Religion and Politics

Individual Presentations

• Grassroots Organization, Internal Coherence, and Secular Party Performance - H. Zeynep Bulutgil, University College London; Aytuğ Şaşmaz, Bryn Mawr College

• Populist Parties and Religiosity in Driving Anti-democratic Elite Attitudes - Vineeta Yadav, Pennsylvania State University

• Persistence of the Secular-Islamist Cleavage in Tunisia - Alexandra Domike Blackman, Cornell University

• Religion in Action: The Impact on the Backlash against Equality+ in Europe - Isabelle Engeli, University of Exeter

Chair

• Tarek Masoud Harvard University

Discussants

• Aytuğ Şaşmaz Bryn Mawr College

• Rachel Beatty Riedl Cornell University