Organization, Literacy, and the Rise of Secular Parties (with Kit Rickard)
What are the conditions under which parties with a secularizing platform achieve electoral success? We argue that secularizing parties become electorally competitive when they can rely on civic associations that allow for urban as well as rural access or if they can disseminate their message in the absence of a thick associational network. These paths become available depending on the type of urban settlement in place and on the ability to directly disseminate printed material to potential supporters. To evaluate our argument, we use an analysis of départements within France at the beginning of the Third Republic when republican parties that explicitly intended to secularize education and family law began to participate in competitive elections.

Discussant: Leonardo Carella (Oxford)

This is a hybrid event. If you wish to join the Join Zoom Meeting, please use the following details: us06web.zoom.us/j/81400620216?pwd=ZXdSWGxkWmZ3dmZvM1BVVnJoMnVldz09 Meeting ID: 814 0062 0216 Passcode: 535586
Date: 29 April 2022, 16:00 (Friday, 1st week, Trinity 2022)
Venue: Manor Road Building, Manor Road OX1 3UQ
Venue Details: Lecture Theatre, and online
Speaker: Zeynep Bulutgil (UCL)
Organising department: Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR)
Organiser contact email address: andrew.melling@politics.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Politics Research Colloquium
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Holly Omand