This book provides an account and explanation of a fundamental dilemma facing secular states: the 'legitimacy gap' left by the withdrawal of religion as a source of legitimacy.

Legitimacy represents a particular problem for the secular state. The 'secular' in all its manifestations is very much linked to the historical rise of the modern state. It should not be seen as a category that separates culture and religion from politics, but rather as one that links these different dimensions. In the first part of the book, Depaigne explains how modern constitutional law has moved away from a...