Party politics and morality policies in secular times

The aim of this project is to understand religion and morality politics in Europe and therefore to introduce a new theoretical framework. This framework provides a first—and rather provocative—answer to the general debate on how religion influences policy-making processes. Specifically, the main argument is that religion is more a strategic resource for political parties than a fundamental normative doctrine shaping political parties’ policy-making behaviour in a systematic and coherent way. The framework proposes a mechanism (i.e. wedge issue competition) that can be used to identify and explain the conditions under which issues related to religious values rise and fall in parliaments of the religious world in Europe and what consequences we may expect in terms of policy reforms.

Publications:

2019:

• Morality politics in a secular age: Strategic parties and divided governments in Europe. (Comparative studies of political agendas). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

2018:

• Dropping the curtain. The Religious-Secular Party Cleavage in German Morality Politics. Politics and Religion 11(2): 221-248. (with C. Preidel)

2017:

• Politicisation without party discipline. A new perspective on Christian Democracy in modern times. Parliamentary Affairs 70(3): 465–488. (with C. Preidel)