Religion and the ideology of populism

Peace, T. (2021) Religion and the ideology of populism. In: Haynes, J. (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Politics and Ideology. Series: Routledge international handbooks. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY, pp. 138-152. ISBN 9780367417826 (doi: 10.4324/9780367816230-13)

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on the phenomenon of right-wing populism as it relates to Christianity in Europe, in particular, its main Catholic and Protestant denominations in both Western and Central and Eastern Europe. In line with the growing success of populist parties and leaders around the world, populism has become one of the most studied political phenomena. Yet, achieving consensus on what actually constitutes populism has been somewhat elusive as different scholars, across varied academic disciplines, have used the term in different ways according to competing definitions. The chapter considers populism as an ideology in line with the dominant trend in the comparative politics literature and adopts the most broadly used definition asan ideology that considers society to be ultimately separated into two homogeneous and antagonistic groups, ‘the pure people' versus ‘the corrupt elite', and which argues that politics should be an expression of the volonté générale of the people.

Item Type:Book Sections
Status:Published
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Peace, Dr Timothy
Authors: Peace, T.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
Publisher:Routledge
ISBN:9780367417826
Published Online:15 August 2021
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2021 Routledge
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher

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