ECPR General Conference 2019, Section “Religion and politics in a secular age: pattern, dynamics and consequences”

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR THE PANEL:

“The rise of a Christian right in Europe”

Madalena Meyer Resende (NOVA University of Lisbon)

Anja Hennig (Europa Universitaet Viadrina)

Panel Abstract

Christianity and nationalism have been part of the ideological make up of modern right wing political forces. After the 2015 refugee crisis the defense of European Christianity against Islam gained a new relevance in both East and Western European right-wing discourses, national and religious rhetoric are again emerging as a shaper of the new political landscape.

This panel aims at understanding the dynamics of convergence, or even alliance, between right leaning nationalist movements and parties with Christian forces, be they CSOs, thinks tanks or churches. National and Christian forces often share a political agenda that refuses multiculturalism, the liberalization of morality policies and the dismantling of state privileges to the established mono-confessional Christian churches. As the liberalization of morality policies proceeded in several European Catholic countries. This panel is open to contributions that considers the ideological and strategic basis for the cooperation between these two sets of actors. Contributions may be of a theoretical character, exploring the ways in which religious and nationalist doctrines converge or are in tension, or be more applied in that they consider the case studies or comparisons of movements, parties or churches that are agents of such coalitions.

Interested researchers should send an abstract to madalena.resende@fcsh.unl.pt by 4 February, 2019