Religious Nationalism and Democratic Erosion: Comparative Perspectives on Faith, Populism, and Constitutional Politics Worldwide

چکیده

Religious nationalism—the fusion of religious identity with nationalist ideology—has emerged as a potent driver of democratic erosion worldwide, challenging liberal norms of pluralism, constitutional checks and balances, and minority rights. This convergent parallel mixed-methods study comparatively analyzes five paradigmatic cases: India’s Hindutva-driven Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under Narendra Modi, the United States’ Christian nationalism linked to the Trump era and Project 2025, Turkey’s Islamist-nationalist AKP under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Hungary’s illiberal Christian democracy under Viktor Orbán, and Brazil’s evangelical-populist alliances under Jair Bolsonaro. Drawing on qualitative data (curriculum documents, party manifestos, judicial rulings, and elite interviews from 2023–2026) and quantitative indicators (V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index 2025, Freedom House scores 2025, Pew Research Center religious nationalism surveys 2025, and PRRI American Values Atlas), the study triangulates thematic patterns with statistical correlations. Qualitative findings reveal common mechanisms: sacralization of the nation as a chosen people, exclusionary rhetoric framing minorities as existential threats, and populist leaders weaponizing faith to justify executive aggrandizement and judicial capture. Quantitative results show significant negative correlations (r = –0.52 to –0.68) between rising religious nationalism indices and democratic quality metrics, with autocratization episodes accelerating in high-religious-nationalism contexts (V-Dem LDI declines of 0.18–0.31 points 2015–2025). Best practices for mitigation include robust constitutional safeguards, interfaith civic education, and independent judicial review. Controversies center on whether religious nationalism represents authentic cultural reclamation or illiberal backsliding. Limitations include data access in authoritarian settings and self-report bias in surveys. This study demonstrates that religious nationalism functions as a transnational illiberal script that erodes democracy not through outright theocracy but through populist fusion of faith, identity, and power, offering urgent comparative lessons for safeguarding pluralism in an age of resurgent identity politics.