Publications by Fellows: Stavroula Koskina: Religion and Populism: The Paradigm of Turkey’s Diyanet

In a new paper published in the Journal of Dialogue Studies, our Fellow Stavroula Koskina examines how populists in power utilise religion and state resources to construct multidimensional religious populist binaries.

Focusing on Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), this study investigates how Friday sermons are instrumentalised to shape the identity of ‘the people,’ ‘the elite,’ and broader notions of societal enemies. Employing Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, this paper explores the intersection of religion, nationalism, and populism to analyse the possibilities and limits of dialogue within the sermonic discourse. The study identifies underexplored dimensions, such as the impact of globalisation and internal dissent, contributing to the growing scholarship on religious populism.

Read the paper here.