Confessionalism (politics)

Proponents of confessionalism cite it as an effective way to secure the peaceful co-existence of diverse religious and ethnic communities by empowering each according to its "weight" in the region. However, critics point out that such a system may actually deepen conflict between ethnic groups. They argue that whichever group holds the most political power may use government to favour itself at the expense of other groups, or even to oppress rival groups. Also, as demographics change, the positions and power held by a particular group may no longer appropriately reflect the size of that group.

Debate over confessionalism raises similar issues to those facing consociationalism, of which confessionalism is one kind.

Some countries' political system distribute power across major religions in the country. This can be required by the constitution or through unwritten tradition.

In the politics of Iraq, following the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the occupying administration introduced a system where power was shared between the three main ethno-religious groups: Shia Muslim Arabs, Sunni Muslim Arabs and Kurds. The constitution of Iraq encouraged such power-sharing, due to the parliamentary system and the initial requirement for a super-majority to elect the President. Although not explicitly required in the constitution, political tradition has continued to date for the President to be a Kurd, the Speaker of Parliament a Sunni Muslim Arab and the Prime Minister a Shi'ite Muslim Arab.[1]

The repartition of assembly seats on a confessional basis in the Middle East was invented by the Ottoman Empire (e.g. in the Ottoman Parliament) and continued in several post-Ottoman countries with reserved seats for non-Muslim, namely Christian, minorities (Syria, Jordan, Iraq), or for all religious communities including Muslim subgroups and Christian churches (Lebanon). A similar system prevails in Iran for the Armenian, Assyrian, Jewish and Zoroastrian minorities.

In Lebanon, the concept of confessionalism holds an important political meaning, since political power and governmental bureaucracy are organized according to religious confessions (as it happened in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries before). For example, the National Pact (an unwritten covenant) and later the Taif Agreement provide for a Maronite Christian president, a Sunni Muslim prime minister, and a Shia Muslim speaker of parliament.

Although the system was meant to be a temporary solution "until such time as the Chamber enacts new electoral laws on a non-confessional basis",[2] more than eighty years later, it remains the system of government. All posts in government and seats in the legislature are apportioned amongst different religious groups according to a political agreement, as the relative demographic weight of those groups is unknown.[3] The constitution of 1926, amended after the Taif Agreement of 1990 and the Doha agreement of 2008 specified that there should be 54 Christian deputies and 54 Muslim deputies, even though in practice there are 64 deputies each.[4] In addition, within those two groups, seats should be shared according to the demographic weight of each community.[5]

The Lebanese constitution also guarantees segmental autonomy to 18 recognized communities in the country in domains such as education.[6] Lebanon also presents other characteristics of confessionalism. Since 2005 Lebanese politics has been polarized around two trans-religious coalitions[7] with the majority never able to govern alone. There is, however, another section of the constitution that addresses the development of outside parties not represented by popular support.

In some countries there are political parties whose main ideology is based on a religion, such as Christian democratic parties and Islamic political parties.

In the politics of the Netherlands the term "confessionalism" refers to any political ideology based on religion. A traditional norm in society, extending to many facets of cultural life, termed pillarisation. Dutch parties usually labelled as confessionalist are the Christian Union and the Reformed Political Party, both exclusively Protestant.

Political parties with religious ideology are sometimes banned on the grounds of promoting violence and hatred (e.g. Vlamms Blok and Batasuna), altering the national character, or having outside support.[8]

In some cases the banning are written in the constitution. Bulgaria’s Constitution prohibits religious political parties.[9] The Constitution of Turkey states the country is secular, and the constitutional court ruled that the Islamist Virtue Party was unconstitutional. The political parties in Portugal are forbidden from using a name that has religious connotation, although the parties are still allowed to adopt a religious ideology, thus allowing the formation of CDS – People's Party.[10]

• Consociationalism
• Multiconfessionalism
• Secularism
• Laïcité