ABSTRACT
This article questions a widely shared assumption that posits the incompatibility of religious politics and democracy. Using evidence from an analytically significant case, Belgium, it explores the political and institutional conditions under which religiously motivated aliberal political actors integrate successfully into democratic institutions. The interaction of three factors is shown to be crucial: a political shift affecting the religious actor negatively, the existence of competitive institutions, and a centralized religious structure. The main theoretical implication is that democratic consolidation can be the contingent outcome of self-interested political strategy rather than the result of the pursuit of normative principles. The article underlines the institutional and political context in which religious movements are embedded (as opposed to their political theologies) and the centrality of agency and strategic calculation. It advocates placing the study of religion and politics in a more broad theoretical perspective and the study of democratization in a wider historical context.
