Mediating Religion and Government Political Institutions and the Policy Process

by Oldmixon, Elizabeth A.; den Dulk, Kevin R.

• ISBN13: 9781137394408
• ISBN10: 1137394404
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-11-19
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The empirical study of religion and politics emerged as a strongly behavioral sub-discipline within political science within the late 20th Century. Particularly in the American context, scholars have placed tremendous emphasis on religion's influence on political attitudes and behaviors. As a result, we have a much better understanding of the potency of religion in shaping voting patterns, party affiliation, and views of public policy, among other behavioral aspects of American politics.

In the context of a democracy, however, political institutions mediate the effect of religion on political attitudes and the policy process. In a Madisonian sense, institutions are at the fulcrum of mass politics and policy outputs. This volume investigates the influence of religion on and within political institutions. Each chapter provides a synthesis of the literature with respect to a particular institution and makes an original research contribution to the literature. By addressing the historical, contemporary, constitutional, and policy-based elements of religious interactions within politics, the volume creates a wide-ranging assessment of the sometimes contentious relationship between these two pillars of American culture.

Author Biography

Kevin R. den Dulk is the Paul B. Henry Chair in Political Science and Director of the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College, USA. He is the co-author of several books, including Religion and Politics in America, The Disappearing God Gap?, and Pews, Prayers, and Participation: Religion and Civic Responsibility in America.

Elizabeth A. Oldmixon is associate professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas, USA, and a fellow at the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies Summer Institute, Brandeis University, USA. She is author of Uncompromising Positions: God, Sex, and the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as numerous articles on religion and legislative policymaking.

Table of Contents

1. An Institutionalist Perspective on Religion and Politics; Kevin R. den Dulk and Elizabeth A. Oldmixon
2. Political Preferences and Institutional Structures: Religious Advocacy in the US Congress; Michael T. Heaney and Elizabeth A. Oldmixon
3. Religious-Market Interest Groups: Do They Sing with an Upper Class Accent?; J. Tobin Grant, Sandy H. Kim and Robert Velez
4. Religion and Political Parties: Mediation in the Mass Party Era; Brian Calfano
5. Serving God by Shaping Law: Religious Legal Advocacy in the United States; Daniel Bennett
6. Religion in the American Congress: The Case of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1953-2013; James L. Guth
7. The Importance of Religion to Understanding the Modern Presidency; Mark J. Rozell and Harold F. Bass
8. Regulating Religion: Bureaucracies, Faith-Based Organizations, and Constitutional Limits; David K. Ryden
9. Religious Actors in State Political Institutions; Kimberly H. Conger
10. Explaining Religious Violence across Countries: An Institutional Approach; Nilay Saiya
11. Conclusion: Religious Politics, Pluralism and the United States Constitution; Ted G. Jelen