The Role of Religion in Development: Towards a New Relationship between the European Union and Africa

Abstract

The resilience of religion in developing countries is now plain to see. In Africa, religion shows no sign of disappearing or diminishing in public importance, as development theorists have generally supposed. The European Union has normally excluded consideration of the religious dimension in formulating development policies towards Africa. This article explores the possible role of religion in Africa's development. It looks at a number of specific fields that are widely debated in the literature on development to consider ways in which religious ideas may be relevant to development thinking. It concludes with some general considerations on how policymakers might be able to encompass religion as a factor in their strategic outlook.

L'impact de la religion dans les pays en développement est maintenant évident. En Afrique, la religion ne montre aucun signe de disparition ou de déclin, comme les théoriciens du développement l'ont généralement présumé. L'Union européenne a, en principe, exclu la prise en compte de la dimension religieuse dans la formulation de politique de développement envers l'Afrique. Cet article étudie le rôle potentiel de la religion dans le développement de l'Afrique. Il s'intéresse à un certain nombre de thèmes largement débattus dans la littérature sur le développement afin de considérer les voies au travers desquelles les idées religieuses pourraient être pertinentes pour la pensée sur le développement. Il conclut avec des considérations générales sur la façon dont les hommes politiques pourraient prendre en compte la religion dans la conception de leurs stratégies.

Notes

1. One example is the new Knowledge Centre on Religion and Development initiated by a number of non-governmental organisations and academic institutions in the Netherlands: see < www.stichtingoikos.nl and www.religion-and-development.nl>.

2. We view the latter primarily as a political issue. However, the phenomenon of ‘urban bias’ has been discussed largely by economists (see notably Byres, 1979). The notion of urban bias is particularly associated with Lipton, 1977. For the relevance of this discussion for Africa, see esp. Karshenas, 2001.

3. It is remarkable that in a special issue of the European Journal of Development Research on ‘Securing Land Rights in Africa’ (2002), there is no consideration of the role of religion other than a passing mention in one paper, on Zimbabwe.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

GERRIE TER HAAR

Gerrie ter Haar is professor of Religion, Human Rights and Social Change at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague. Stephen Ellis is a senior researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden. Some aspects of this paper are a development of ideas first sketched in a paper entitled ‘Religion and Development in Africa’ that was commissioned by the secretariat of the Commission for Africa and published on its website, <www.commissionforafrica.org>, although as at 13 February 2006 it could no longer be found there (see Commission for Africa, 2005: 405).