Conference on Populism, Nationalism, and the Future of Democracy

When: Sept. 25-26, 2025

Where: Online

Submission deadline: Aug. 1, 2025

Sponsored by the Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory in Collaboration with the University of Denver

The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory (JCRT) invites proposals for an online conference of Populism, Nationalism, and the Future of Democracy to be held Sept. 25-26, 2025. The proceedings will be published and developed into a special issue of the JCRT in 2026.

The conference seeks to explore the complex and evolving intersection between populism and nationalism and its rejection of the neoliberal global order. It aims to shine a particular spotlight on how religious ideologies and moral value systems, both conservative and progressive, motivate and shape contemporary populist movements as well as their nationalist forms of political expression. Finally, the conference looks to answer the more overarching question: what implications does the growing influence of populist and neo-nationalist constituencies have for the future of democracy?

The conference organizers are seeking proposals of high academic quality that take a reflective and analytical approach in consideration of both general and specific topics that have an international appeal or focus. We are not interested in papers that are de facto advocacy pieces, political screeds, or defamatory harangues against certain nations, peoples, or groups.

As the Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory works toward a special issue on Populism, Nationalism, and the Future of Democracy, our goal is to create an interdisciplinary forum to examine these pressing issues. We encourage contributions from a spectrum of perspectives, approaches, and methodologies.

Themes and Topics

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• religion, race, class, and secular ideology in the formation of populism cadres and national identity
• the varieties of populism with reference to local cultures and national legacies
• the tension and conflict between neoliberal concepts of global order and populist movements
• competing political theories of democracy and their historical and intellectual sources
• forms of “moral politics” (in George Lakoff’s phrasing), or the interaction of socio-ethical value frames and their political manifestations
• globalization, the “postmodern” fracturing of social identity, and its impact on democratic governance
• religious nationalisms and their significance, or lack thereof
• the nuanced meaning of the term “authoritarianism”, including focused case studies
• political and religious “mythmaking” in the genesis of populist and nationalist insurgencies

Publication: All conference presenters will be invited to submit finished articles no later than Feb. 1, 2026. Submissions will be peer-reviewed and selected for a special issue in 2026.