Bettiza is developing a second research agenda that connects his interests in religion and civilizations, to wider debates about ideology, illiberalism, and the changing character of international order. With a number of co-authors, Bettiza has shown how rising authoritarian powers engage in power political processes of normative contestation in the international system, and explored the emergence of civilizationism as a counter-hegemonic ideology to liberalism in international order. These recent publications build on earlier research explaining how religious norms diffuse in the liberal international order and the resurgence of civilizational politics in the practice and theory of international relations. Bettiza has contributed chapters on the relationship between ideology and religion for the Routledge Handbook of Ideology and International Relations, and on religion, civilizations, and illiberalism for the Oxford Handbook of Illiberalism. He is also interested in integrating ideology more consistently in constructivist theories of IR.