Role of Religion in Global Politics - The case of France and Turkey

Abstract: Despite the fact that a great majority of experts predicted that religion would lose its power and influence, we are currently experiencing a worldwide revival of religious sentiments. The purpose of this study is to investigate how religion, politics, and security impact identity construction in France and Turkey. This study used critical discourse analysis and thematic narrative analysis to examine how the political elite produces narratives and impacts, citizens, in these two cases. According to the findings, the political elite of both countries exploits religious overtones in their speeches to secure votes, which produces ontological insecurity in individuals, thus, creating uncertainty about their identity. As a consequence, both of these counters are confronted with societal divisiveness as they attempt to balance secularism in their constitution and everyday life.