Berkley Center

Published in International Political Sociology, this study by Jocelyne Cesari and Jonathan Fox develops and examines the concept of hegemonic religion and its relationship with democracy. A religion is hegemonic not only when the state grants that religion exclusive material and political privileges and benefits, but also when the religion is a core element of national identity and citizenship. The authors empirically examine the link between hegemonic religion and democracy using the Religion and State round 2 (RAS2), Polity, and CIRI datasets, focusing on religious education policy, financing of religion, and religiously based laws as measures of the extent of religious hegemony in a state. Cesari and Fox find that the presence of these religiously hegemonic traits, especially in combination, is strongly associated with a lack of democracy. However, it is possible for democracies to have some hegemonic features but not all of them.