DEMOCRACY AND RELIGIOUS POLITICS - EVIDENCE FROM BELGIUM

This article questions a widely shared assumption that posits the inco mpatibility of religious politics and democracy. Using evidence from a n analytically significant case, Belgium, it explores the political an d institutional conditions under which religiously motivated aliberal political actors Integrate successfully into democratic institutions. The interaction of three factors is shown to be crucial: a political s hift affecting the religious actor negatively, the existence of compet itive institutions, and a centralized religious structure. The main th eoretical implication is that democratic consolidation can be the cont ingent outcome of self-interested political strategy rather than the r esult of the pursuit of normative principles. The article underlines t he institutional and political context in which religious movements ar e embedded (as opposed to their political theologies) and the centrali ty of agency and strategic calculation. it advocates placing the study of religion and politics in a more broad theoretical perspective and the study of democratization in a wider historical context.