Faith and force: imposition, dissemination, and transnationalization of religion in Türkiye and Iran

This article explores how Türkiye and Iran - despite their contrasting political systems (secular vs. theocracy) - instrumentalize religion to sustain and expand authoritarian control both domestically and transnationally. Türkiye has increasingly embedded Sunni Islamic values into state institutions, particularly via the Diyanet, reshaping governance with a religious veneer. Iran, conversely, places Shia Islam at the core of its political structure, with clerics wielding direct power. While their historical and ideological roots differ, both regimes now converge in their strategic use of religion: to legitimize rule, suppress dissent, and advance social conservatism. Moreover, they project influence beyond borders through religiously affiliated proxies. Drawing on Constructivism, the performative turn, authoritarian theory, and Foucault’s idea of disciplinary power, this study introduces “religious statecraft” as a new analytical framework. It conceptualizes how religion operates not only as a tool of domestic governance but also as a spectacle of power as well as a vehicle of regional influence through normative and institutional diffusion.