Religion in Times of Illiberal Transnationalism: European Regional Institutions as Sites of Contestation
The project investigates how illiberal actors strategically instrumentalize religion within ongoing processes of contestation and recalibration of European regional institutions aimed at limiting their authority and reshaping their normative foundations. Focusing on the Council of Europe and the EU, the project adopts a two-phase approach. Part One examines how illiberal challenges mobilize religion as part of a broader strategy of institutional contestation and recalibration. It analyzes jurisprudential dynamics in national apex courts and in the ECtHR and CJEU, positioning them as primary sites of contestation where the future of constitutional democracy is (re)negotiated. It does so by examining the dynamic interplay between religion, sovereignty claims, equality, and human rights, and by assessing how (1) reinterpretations of one concept influence others and (2) how these reinterpretations undermine the foundational principles of European regional institutions and constitutional democracy. While Part One establishes a robust conceptual framework and maps key practices of contestation, Part Two focuses on the state and non-state actors driving these processes.
