God, [political] family… and Europe? The selective resilience of religion in shaping the work of Italian members of the European Parliament

Drawing on data from an original survey and the qualitative content analysis of parliamentary written questions, the contribution studies how religion shapes the political activity of Italian MEPs. It claims that Italian MEPs show some resilient attachment to the Catholic identity of Europe, althoug...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:Religion in the European Parliament: between nation and Europe
Authors: Bolzonar, Fabio (Author) ; Trino, Noemi (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge 2023
In: Religion, state & society
Year: 2023, Volume: 51, Issue: 4/5, Pages: 416-433
Further subjects:B European politics
B Values
B Populism
B Religion
B Italy
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Drawing on data from an original survey and the qualitative content analysis of parliamentary written questions, the contribution studies how religion shapes the political activity of Italian MEPs. It claims that Italian MEPs show some resilient attachment to the Catholic identity of Europe, although they do not take religious values much into consideration for policy decisions. To highlight the role of religion in European politics, this contribution also compares its impact on some policy issues in the EU and Italian political arenas. In both spheres, religious tropes and values, considered as a cultural reference, are more politicised on security issues than on other questions. Such politicisation is undertaken by populist radical right MEPs, who adopt a securitisation framework to emphasise the threat posed by Muslim communities. In the Italian polity, religious values as Christian cultural norms are also politicised on identity issues and morality questions to sustain value-driven restrictive policies.
ISSN:1465-3974
Contains:Enthalten in: Religion, state & society
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/09637494.2023.2286665