Religion and Politics in the European Union

François Foret is a Professor of Political Science at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and holds a Jean Monnet Chair funded by the European Commission. He is the director for political research at the Institute for European Studies at ULB and a researcher at the Centre d'étude de la vie politique (CEVIPOL). His research interests include European integration, institutions, politics and policies; European identity and memory; symbolic politics; the role of culture in the legitimization of political orders; and the interaction between religion and politics.

• 1. Religion in the framing of a European polity; 2. Religion in the selection of European rulers: is the EU Christian democratic, secularist, or neutral?; 3. Religion in the European electoral process: more than a trace, less than a path; 4. Religion and political socialization in Brussels; 5. Religion and public action in the EU; 6. Legitimization of the EU: meeting religion in the public sphere; 7. Religion in the external identity of the EU; Appendix: presentation of the survey 'relep': method, sample, range, and limits of the data.

'Foret's closely argued and impressively researched book builds on the MEPs' survey with fieldwork in Brussels, Strasbourg, and Washington, and overall provides a fascinating overview of the role of religion in one of the EU's few democratically-accountable institutions.' Jeffrey Haynes, Democratization