22/05/2024 14:15 - 16:30

HALL: LA PIRA - ROOM 4

Proponent: Bojanovska Popovska D., Gruev I.

Chair: Orrego Torres E.

Speaker: Bojanovska Popovska D., Gruev I., Orrego Torres E., Raimondo F., Unal E., Van De Graaf C.

The rise of illiberal democracy across the world has recently attracted vast scholarship. The burgeoning literature in this field has primarily focused on the intersection between illiberalism and populism, as well as illiberalism and the erosion of the rule of law and judicial independence. The relationship between illiberalism and religion has received less attention and has been mainly explored in relation to the role of religion in populist discourse, the return of "God" in the constitution, and the (re)emergence of ethno-religious nationalism. This blind spot is somewhat surprising, considering the wealth of older scholarship on the role of religion in the evolution of modern constitutions and liberal democracy, and more recent anxieties about the rise of strong religion. The panel addresses this gap by inquiring into the correlation between the erosion of liberalism and secularism with a particular emphasis on the ways in which constitutional secularism is (re)interpreted in illiberal and backsliding democracies. It sheds light on the broader political goals and judicial mechanisms of said (re)interpretation and the consequences it produces in the legal universe, especially with regard to the changing regulation of state-church relations and the restriction of fundamental rights on religion-based grounds.