Abstract

This paper examines the relations between state, political power and churches in the institutional and political experiences of post-socialist Poland and Hungary. The constitutional texts and the interpretations of constitutional jurisprudence are functional to an instrumental use of the majority religion, in order to consolidate the dominion of the political parties belonging to the populist radical right family. The consequences of this trend are clearly unfavorable for minorities, including religious ones. Overall, the current political-constitutional framework highlights a democratic regression, or the sliding towards forms of «illiberal democracy».