ABSTRACT

While populism is one of the most analysed aspects of contemporary politics, we know little about its interaction with religion and about motivations leading political parties to oppose or support a secular appropriation of religious themes and symbols beyond any spiritual or doctrinal dimension. This paper aims to disentangle the intersection of religion and populism in Romania with regard to the concept of family, by exploring how parliamentarians use religious symbols and contents within their speeches during the debates preparing the 2018 referendum on family in Romania. The analysis is based on a dataset of parliamentary debates covering the adoption of the referendum in the Parliament (2012–2018) and the follow-up period (2018–2020). We aim to provide a nuanced understanding of how political actors conceive and represent religion and gender in contemporary politics based on a case-study in which overtly populist parties remain isolated in the extra-parliamentary arena.

摘要

虽然民粹主义是当代政治中分析最多的方面之一，但我们对其与宗教的相互作用以及导致政党反对或支持超越任何精神或教义维度的宗教主题和符号的世俗挪用的动机知之甚少。本文旨在通过探讨议员在准备 2018 年罗马尼亚家庭公投的辩论中如何在演讲中使用宗教符号和内容，从而理清罗马尼亚宗教与民粹主义在家庭概念方面的交集。该分析基于议会辩论的数据集，涵盖议会通过公投（2012-2018 年）和后续阶段（2018-2020 年）。