Abstract
This paper explores the emerging scholarship investigating the relationship between religion(s) and populism. It systematically reviews the various aspects of the phenomenon going beyond the Western world and discusses how religion and populism interact in various contexts around the globe. It looks at Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity and how in different regions and cultural contexts, they merge with populism and surface as the bases of populist appeals in the 21st century. In doing so, this paper contends that there is a scarcity of literature on this topic particularly in the non-Western and Judeo-Christian context. The paper concludes with recommendations on various gaps in the field of study of religious populism.
Highlights
The Institute for Religion, Politics and Society, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, VIC 3065, Abstract: This paper explores the emerging scholarship investigating the relationship between religion(s) and populism
There is no clear evidence that populism, while it takes on a vertical approach to absorb or attach itself to various ideologies, is a form of extremism or authoritarianism
The growing prominence of religion in politics is evident in populist rhetoric dominating political life across the world
Summary
In the second decade of the 21st century, populism has emerged as a significant electoral force across the world. Notwithstanding its competing definitions and leaving its ontological nature to the discussion on the extant literature, we contend that populism is about constructions (construction, de-construction and re-construction) of “the people(s)”, and the mobilization of these constructions in an antagonistic fashion by populists. This construction of “the people,” we contend, is “the main task” of populists (Laclau 2006; Wojczewski 2020; Katsambekis 2020). We probe the relationship between populism and religion, and examine how populism is practiced in different religious contexts. While choosing political settings for other religions, we follow the same logic, which allows us to take tour around the world and observe religious populism as it is practiced in a number of diverse political and social contexts
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