| Popis: |
A model of religion-inspired political activity—taking into account internal organization of a religious actor, with its members, resources, leadership structures and level of ideological cohesion; external political opportunity structure offering access points but also restricting political options of churches; and the strategies it chooses—is applied to the analysis of Polish and American religious actors in terms of their potential impact on the political process. The Polish Catholic Church has been described as a veto player, an actor able to block the change of the status quo. This is demonstrated with the case study on the making of the Polish constitution, where the Church succeeded in blocking regulations potentially inhibiting its public presence. Conversely, American religious actors have been described as stakeholders, interested and involved in public policymaking, but—due to a variety of differences in social structure, architecture of the political system and political culture—often unable to exert their influence in a direct, causally demonstrable way the Polish Church has been. |
