Globalization, Religiosity, and Vote Choice

Abstract

Building on recent research that examines the impact of globalization in domestic political behaviour, particularly on economic voting, this chapter proposes that globalization strengthens the influence of religiosity on individual voting decisions (the ‘religious vote’ or ‘religious voting’). It further hypothesizes that the effect of globalization on the religious vote depends on the structure of the religious economy: some religious contexts will be more fertile settings for religious voting. The analysis combines individual-level data from CSES Module 2 (2001-2006) with two types of country-level information: globalization indices and a measure of the religious context. The main finding is that globalization strengthens the link between religiosity and right-wing party choice. This effect can be interpreted as an anti-globalization backlash that takes place within a shrinking pool of religious voters. The findings contribute to our understanding of a hitherto ignored relationship between globalization and the non-economic foundations of political behaviour.