Reconceptualizing Church and State

39 Pages Posted: 29 Mar 2010 Last revised: 6 Apr 2010

See all articles by Robert Brathwaite

Robert Brathwaite

University of Notre Dame - Department of Political Science

Andrew Bramsen

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Abstract

In this article, we address the need to reconceptualize the relationship between democracy and the separation of religion and state. We argue that previous studies have misconceptualized the impact religion can have on democracy, or have taken a narrow focus by concentrating on specific cases. We use principle component analysis and a large-n dataset covering 125 countries to show that the separation of religion and state should be conceptualized multi-dimensionally and that it should be considered a component of democracy. Our findings also show that as separation of religion and state increases the level of democracy also increases.

Suggested Citation

Brathwaite, Robert and Bramsen, Andrew, Reconceptualizing Church and State. Western Political Science Association 2010 Annual Meeting Paper , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1580283

Robert Brathwaite (Contact Author)

University of Notre Dame - Department of Political Science ( email )

217 O'Shaughnessy Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556
United States

Andrew Bramsen

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

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