Institutional Relations Rather Than Clashes of Civilizations: When and How Is Religion Compatible with Democracy?

Abstract

This study develops and examines the concept of hegemonic religion and its relationship with democracy. A religion is hegemonic not only when the state grants that religion exclusive material and political privileges and benefits, but also when the religion is a core element of national identity and citizenship. We empirically examine the link between hegemonic religion and democracy using the Religion and State round 2 (RAS2), Polity, and CIRI datasets. We specifically use religious education policy, financing of religion, and religiously based laws as measures of the extent of religious hegemony in a state. We find that the presence of these religiously hegemonic traits, especially in combination, is strongly associated with a lack of democracy. However, it is possible for democracies to have some hegemonic features but not all of them.

The Multidimensional Effects of Religion on Socioeconomic Development: A Review of the Empirical Literature

“…The content of particular religious ideas is more or less favorable for liberal democracy and good governance. A strong debate has developed regarding the relative (dis)advantages of Christianity versus Islam in this regard (see, e.g., Cesari and Fox, ). The relative strength of religious ideas is also important.…”

“…However, the above relationship must be put into perspective (see, e.g., Cesari and Fox, ). First, the relationship is not deterministic, as some democratic Muslim countries exist and some predominantly Christian countries in Latin America or Africa are not democratic.…”

“…For example, Islamic countries could be less democratic because they are also less secular and less wealthy, while many, especially Western Christian countries are extremely secularized and comparatively rich . Many factors other than the levels of secularization and development can play a role and religious factors may not be the most important ones (see, e.g., Anderson, ; Cesari and Fox, ).…”

Religion and Political Mobilization

“…Others focus on transition where religion features prominently including the democratic transitions during the Arab Spring (Ferrero 2018), suggesting that democracy is harder to achieve when a hegemonic religion is tied to the state (Cesari and Fox 2016). In this vein, Mecham (2017) examines Islamist political mobilization across peaceful and violent settings.…”

Political Islam: More than Islamism

“…Studies have also shown that hegemonic Islam has an influence on the democratic level of Muslim countries. In other words, the presence of hegemonic traits, such as religiously based laws, the financing of religion, and religious education policy, is strongly connected to a lack of democracy (Cesari and Fox 2016).…”