In:
Party Politics, SAGE Publications, Vol. 29, No. 1 ( 2023-01), p. 40-50
Abstract:
This article investigates Western European right-wing populists’ ambiguous relationship with religion and secularism using the example of the French Rassemblement National (RN). Drawing on social cleavage theory, survey data and elite interviews with RN leaders, French mainstream politicians and Church authorities, it finds that the RN employs Catholicism and laïcité as cultural identity markers against Islam to mobilise voters around a new identity cleavage between liberal-cosmopolitans and populist-communitarians. However, instead of a rapprochement with Christian policy positions, ethics and institutions, this article finds that the RN is becoming increasingly secularist in its policies, personnel and electorate. This finding is of significant relevance for the broader populism and religion literature not only because it suggests the centrality of right-wing identity politics for populist parties, but also because it challenges traditional assumptions about the relationship between right-wing populism and religion by providing evidence that in Western Europe the former is increasingly dominated by its ‘post-religious’ wing.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1354-0688
,
1460-3683
DOI:
10.1177/13540688211046859
Language:
English
Publisher:
SAGE Publications
Publication Date:
2023
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1492251-4
SSG:
3,6
Bookmarklink
