The DOI matches its Crossref record; 49 of the 50 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Religion and Public Policy: Institutional, Cultural, and Political Impact on the Shaping of Abortion Policies in Western Democracies
Abstract
This article addresses the relationship between religion and politics in liberal democracies from a public policy angle. The analysis shows that contrary to the general secularization thesis, there is a visible religious impact on public policy, but it varies according to what measure of secularization is used. Confessional heritage (Catholicism versus Protestantism) and cultural values (levels of religiosity) are better predictors than institutional differentiation or political mobilization. When confessional heritage is held constant, the institutional impact increases. It is not surprising that Catholic countries produce less than fully liberal abortion policies, but the most restrictive abortion policies are found in those Catholic countries where high levels of religiosity persist. Moreover, a strong presence of religious parties is not associated with restrictive abortion policies, but in all countries with moderate to high levels of religiosity and with strong Christian Democratic parties and only there, moderate or “distress” models of abortion exist.
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“Party configurations that involve pro-European independent Christian democratic parties have a moderating effect on mainstream parties (Arzheimer and Carter 2009;Minkenberg 2002).”
From Varieties of Illiberal Backlash in Central Europe (2023) · cites this paper as Minkenberg 2002
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Metadata
- Authors
- MINKENBERG, M.
- Affiliations
- European University Viadrina (DE)
- Corresponding author
- MINKENBERG, MICHAEL
- ORCID
- MINKENBERG, MICHAEL
- Venue
- Comparative Political Studies
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2002-03
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 221-247
- ISSN
- 0010-4140 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3829
- OpenAlex
- W2134216767
- Semantic Scholar
- ef2fb65f84b04df011093d50d6a6931731acb0bf
- Cited by
- 212
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 45.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Comparative Political Studies (publishedVersion)
- DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society Interactions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society in Latin America
- Social Sciences › Law › Religious Freedom and Discrimination
- Keywords
- religion and politics, secularization, public policy, abortion policy, religiosity, Catholicism, Protestantism, religious parties, Christian democratic parties, liberal democracy
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