Instrumental, Narrow, Normative? Reviewing recent work on religion and development

Abstract

There is a growing body of research on religion and development, primarily from development scholars and practitioners. In many ways this represents a new departure for development studies, which has been largely uninterested in religion in the past. This growing interest can be explained through a number of inter-linking factors, including the persistence of religion in much of the world, and the sense that existing approaches to development have been ineffective. In reviewing the literature we put forward three broad criticisms. First, it is instrumental in its approach—it is interested in understanding how religion can be used to do development ‘better’. Second, it has a narrow focus on faith-based organisations, which is in many ways a consequence of the need to understand religion instrumentally. Third, it is based on normative assumptions in terms of how both religion and development are conceptualised: religion is understood to be apart from ‘mainstream’ development, while development is defined as that thing that development agencies do. In making sense of these criticisms we emphasise the extent to which the recent interest in religion and development has come from donors and development agencies. We found little evidence of academic research on religion and development prefiguring the interest of the World Bank or bilateral agencies. The article concludes with some suggestions of how to move forward.

Notes

The authors gratefully acknowledge Catrine Christiansen, David Lewis, Bernard Phelan, Janet Seeley and Rachel Wrangham for comments on earlier drafts.

1 KA ver Beek, ‘Spirituality: a development taboo’, Development in Practice, 10(1), 2000, p 31.

2 Ibid, p 37.

3 Ibid, pp 31, 42.

4 B Wilson, Religion in Sociological Perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992, p 49.

5 The study of religion moved in a somewhat contrary direction. The focus, for the past half century, has been on religion in its private aspect. Inner faith, symbols, rituals, and emotions have dominated. Only recently has there been an interest in religion and its relationship to the public sphere. For an overview of new trends in the study of religion, see JA Beckford & N Jay Demerath (eds), The Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, London: Sage Publications, 2007.

6 E de Kadt, ‘Should God play a role in development?’, Journal of International Development, 21(6), 2009, pp 781–786.

7 SP Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.

8 See, for example, M Castells, The Power of Identity, Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1997; and J Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1994.

9 There is no generally accepted definition of fbos, but they are often characterised by having one or more of the following characteristics: affiliation with a religious body, mission statement or activities with explicit reference to religion, selection of staff based on religion. Clarke and Jennings define a faith-based organisation as ‘any organisation that derives inspiration and guidance for its activities from the teachings and principles of the faith or from a particular interpretation or school of thought within that faith’. G Clarke & M Jennings (eds), Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, p 6.

10 It is also partly prompted by the fall-out from structural adjustment programmes. G Clarke, ‘Faith matters’, Journal of International Development, 18(6), 2006, p 836.

11 R James, What is Distinctive about fbos?, intrac Praxis Paper, 2009, p 5.

12 Ibid, p 7.

13 See K Marshall & L Keough, Mind, Heart and Soul in the Fight Against Poverty, Washington, DC: World Bank Publications, 2004; M Palmer & V Finlay, Faith in Conservation: New Approaches to Religions and the Environment, Washington, DC: World Bank, 2003; and M Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2001.

14 A Holenstein, Role and Significance of Religion and Spirituality in Development Cooperation: A Reflection and Working Paper, Bern: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, 2005.

15 J Howell & J Lind, Counterterrorism, Aid and Civil Society, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, p 5.

16 As discussed in JB Alterman & K von Hippel (eds), Understanding Islamic Charities, Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2007. To date only one Muslim ngo has been convicted for contributing to terrorist activities—namely the Holy Land Foundation, which in 2009 was convicted for supporting Hamas. In 2003 the ceo of Benevolence International was convicted of fraud, while charges against the organisation as such were dismissed. K Guinane, Muslim Charities and the War on Terror, Washington, DC: omb Watch, 2006, p 11.

17 EA Brett, Reconstructing Development Theory: International Inequality, Institutional Reform and Social Emancipation, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

18 N Kirmani, ‘Review of religion and development: conflict or cooperation? Development and faith—where mind and soul work together’, Development in Practice, 18(6), 2008, p 808.

19 D McDuie-Ra & J Rees, ‘Religious actors, civil society and the development agenda: the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion’, Journal of International Development, 22(1), 2010, p 21.

20 On religion and human rights, see AE Mayer, Islam and Human Rights, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2006; and L Binderup & T Jensen (eds), Human Rights: Democracy, and Religion, Odense: University of Southern Denmark, 2005. On religion and civil society, see D Herbert, Religion and Civil Society: Rethinking Public Religion in the Contemporary World, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003; and Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World.

21 A notable exception was the establishment of a chair in Religion and Development in 1999 at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.

22 K Marshall, ‘Development and religion: a different lens on development debates’, Peabody Journal of Education, 76(3–4), 2001, p 339.

23 Marshall & Keough, Mind, Heart and Soul in the Fight against Poverty; and K Marshall & MB van Saanen, Development and Faith: Where Mind, Heart and Soul Work Together, Washington, DC: World Bank Publications, 2007.

24 Holenstein, Role and Significance of Religion and Spirituality in Development Cooperation.

25 R James, What is Distinctive about fbos, p 7. This was encouraged, in part, by the 2005 UK Commission for Africa report Our Common Interest, which gave substantial attention to religion. It is also described in G ter Haar & S Ellis, ‘The role of religion in development: towards a new relationship between the European Union and Africa’, European Journal of Development Research, 18(3), 2006, pp 351–367. More recently dfid has, together with the Tony Blair Foundation, Islamic Relief, World Vision and Oxfam, also hosted the public seminar series ‘Faith and Development’. See www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org.

26 James, What is Distinctive about FBOs? p 5.

27 For more information, see http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/NGPA/introduction/default.htm.

28 The workshop was sponsored by the Luce Foundation, which has demonstrated a keen interest in the topic, funding several workshops, conferences and other research initiatives.

29 Articles in this journal include G Clarke, ‘Agents of transformation? Donors, faith-based organisations and international development’, 28(1), 2007, pp 77–96; J Lunn, ‘The role of religion, spirituality and faith in development: a critical theory approach’, 30(5), 2009, pp 937–951; and T Parfitt, ‘Countdown to ecstasy: development as eschatology’, 30(4), 2009, pp 635–648. Journal of International Development articles include Clarke, ‘Faith matters’; de Kadt, ‘Should God play a role in development?’; S Plant, ‘International development and belief in progress’, 21(6), 2009, pp 844–855; and McDuie-Ra & Rees, ‘Religious actors, civil society and the development agenda’. Progress in Development Studies articles include E Tomalin, ‘Religion and a rights-based approach to development’, 6(2), 2006, pp 93–108; and T Bradley, ‘A call for clarification and critical analysis into the work of faith-based development organisations’, 9(2), 2009, pp 101–114. Finally, World Development articles include D Goulet, ‘Development experts: one-eyed giants’, 8(7–8), 1980, pp 481–489; and S Deneulin & C Rakodi, ‘Revisiting religion: development studies thirty years on’, 39(1), 2011, pp 45–54.

30 J Haynes, Religion and Development: Conflict or Cooperation?, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007; S Deneulin with M Bano, Religion in Development: Rewriting the Secular Script, London: Zed Books, 2009; and Clarke & Jennings, Development, Civil Society and Fatih-Based Organizations.

31 B Bompani & M Frahm-Arp (eds), Development and Politics from Below: Exploring Religious Spaces in the African State, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

32 M Clarke, Development and Religion: Theology and Practice, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011; and G ter Haar, Religion and Development: Ways of Transforming the World, London: Hurst & Co, 2011.

33 While comparable programmes on Chronic Poverty at the University of Manchester, or Crisis States at the London School of Economics were organised around specialists who have worked for more than a decade on their subject, the religion and development programme did not have a similar cluster of scholarship because of the newness of research in this area.

34 ter Haar & Ellis, ‘The role of religion in development’, p 354.

35 M Harper, DSK Rao & AK Sahu, Development, Divinity and Dharma: The Role of Religion in Development and Microfinance Institutions, Rugby, UK: Practical Action Publishing, 2008, p 2.

36 Marshall & Keough, Mind, Heart and Soul in the Fight against Poverty, p xv.

37 James, What is Distinctive about fbos?, p 2. A much-cited World Bank study concluded that many poor people have more confidence in religious organisations than in secular ones. D Narayan with R Patel, K Schafft, A Rademacher & S Koch-Schulte, Voices of the Poor, Washington, DC: World Bank Publications, 2000. Likewise, a 2008 Gallup poll showed that 82% of people in sub-Saharan Africa claimed that they trusted religious organisations more than other societal institutions.

38 Clarke & Jennings, Development, Civil Society and Faith-based Organizations.

39 As cited in James, What is Distinctive about fbos?, p 3.

40 E Ferris, ‘Faith-based and secular humanitarian organizations’, Review of the Red Cross, 87(858), 2005, p 325; and Harper et al, Development, Divinity and Dharma.

41 James, What is Distinctive about fbos?, p 9.

42 Cordaid, icco and Institute of Social Studies, Religion: A Source for Human Rights and Development Cooperation, report from the conference ‘Religion. A Source for Human Rights and Development Cooperation’, Soesterberg, September 2005, p 35, emphasis added.

43 Ibid, p 5.

44 ter Haar & Ellis, ‘The role of religion in development’, p 372.

45 Ibid, p 366.

46 Ibid, pp 367, 371.

47 Holenstein, Role and Significance of Religion and Spirituality in Development Cooperation, p 21.

48 McDuie-Ra & Rees, ‘Religious actors, civil society and the development agenda’, p 22.

49 A number of typologies of religious, or faith-based, organisations present religion in a way that makes it compatible with development objectives. See, for example, HR Unrah & RJ Sider, Saving Souls, Serving Society, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005; Clarke, ‘Faith matters’; and James, What is Distinctive about fbos?.

50 Since 9/11 there has also been an increase in the amount of research commissioned on Muslim faith-based organisations. See, for example, J Benthall & J Bellion-Jourdan, The Charitable Crescent: Politics of Aid in the Muslim World, London: IB Tauris, 2003; Alterman & von Hippel, Understanding Islamic Charities; and M Juul Petersen, ‘Islamizing aid: transnational Muslim ngos after 9/11’, Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Non-profit Organisations, forthcoming.

51 A notable exception is the above mentioned publication on the Hindu fbo Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project, Development, Divinity and Dharma by Harper et al.

52 Clarke, ‘Faith matters’, p 837. Today dfid funds activities of a number of Muslim ngos, including Islamic Relief and Muslim Aid.

53 M Juul Petersen, ‘International religious ngos at the United Nations’, Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, November 2010, at http://jha.ac.

54 In an interesting piece Parfitt suggests that the focus on religion only underlines the way development continues to be conceptualised through a Judeo-Christian logic of transformation and crisis. T Parfitt, ‘Countdown to ecstasy’, Third World Quarterly, 30(4), 2009, pp 635–648

55 For example, O Odumosu, L Chete & SK Alonge, ‘Faith-based organizations' participation in policy process in Nigeria’; E Tomalin & R Leurs, ‘Mapping the work of faith based organisations in India, Pakistan, Tanzania and Nigeria’; and Q Wodon, ‘Faith and development at the World Bank: building the empirical evidence’, all papers presented at the conference ‘Progressive, Paradoxical, Pragmatic: Exploring Religion and Human Development’, Birmingham, 21–22 July 2010.

56 For example, G Clarke & L Rae, ‘The evolution of faith-based organisations: reconsidering Korten's four generations’; J Lunn, ‘Coexistence, competition and collaboration: interactions between religious organisations and other actors in social development in Kolkata, India’; R Morgan, ‘The role of religion in hiv/aids policy processes of faith-based ngos’; and U Ukiwo, ‘The development activities of faith-based and secular ngos in Nigeria’, all papers presented at the conference ‘Progressive, Paradoxical, Pragmatic: Exploring Religion and Human Development’, Birmingham, 21–22 July 2010. See also HR Ebaugh, PF Pipes, JS Chafez & M Daniels, ‘Where's the religion? Distinguishing faith-based from secular social service agencies’, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 42(3), 2003, pp 411–426.

57 Deneulin & Rakodi, ‘Revisiting religion’, p 51.

58 GD Bond, Buddhism at Work: Community Development, Social Empowerment and the Sarvodaya Movement, Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian, 2004.

59 See, for example, Plant, ‘International development and belief in progress’; Lunn, ‘The role of religion, spirituality and faith in development’; Marshall & van Saanen, Development and Faith: Where Mind, Heart and Soul Work Together; W Tyndale, Visions of Development, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006; Marshall & Keough, Mind, Heart and Soul in the Fight against Poverty; and Goulet, ‘Development experts: one-eyed giants’.

60 W Tyndale, ‘Idealism and practicality: the role of religion in development’, Development, 46(4), 2003, p 27ff.

61 Goulet, ‘Development experts’, pp 484, 488.

62 Clarke & Jennings, Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations, p 15.

63 Haynes, Religion and Development: Conflict or Cooperation?, p 99ff.

64 Tyndale, Visions of Development, p xiii.

65 Clarke & Jennings, Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations, p 16, emphasis added.

66 These sorts of tensions are less apparent in studies that are meant to be a simple celebration of religion. Tyndale's Visions of Development brings together practitioners who write about their experiences as religiously motivated individuals, and does not attempt to reconcile the campaigning nature of the book with claims about promoting a more critical account of development.

67 Lunn, ‘The role of religion, spirituality and faith in development’, pp 944–945.

68 S Corbridge, ‘The (im)possibility of development studies’, Economy and Society, 36(2), 2007, pp 179–211; and Lund, ‘The role of religion, spirituality and faith in development’.

69 For example, Lewis and Gardner discussed the ‘post-modern challenge’ posed to development as far back as 1996. D Lewis & K Gardner, Anthropology, Development and the Post-Modern Challenge, London: Pluto Press, 1996.

70 Take, for example, the way anthropologists use development's concern with modernisation to look at what modernity means as a cultural category. J Ferguson, ‘Economics and barbarism: an anthropological comment on Pearson's “Homo Economicus”’, History of Political Economy, 32(4), 2000, pp 991–998.

71 C Christiansen, ‘Development of church, development by church’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Copenhagen, 2010.

72 B Jones, Beyond the State in Rural Uganda, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.

73 K Ward, ‘The Church of Uganda amidst conflict: the interplay between church and politics in Uganda since 1962’, in HB Hansen & M Twaddle (eds), Religion and Politics in East Africa: The Period since Independence, London: James Currey, 1995, p 72.

74 E Bornstein, The Spirit of Development: Protestant ngos, Morality, and Economics in Zimbabwe, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003.

75 P Quarles Van Ufford & M Schoffeleers, Religion and Development: Towards an Integrated Approach, Amsterdam: Free University Press, 1988. It was a set of arguments that did not achieve much traction in development studies departments at the time.

76 O Salemink, A van Harskamp & A Kumar Giri (eds), The Development of Religion, the Religion of Development, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2004.

77 R Wuthnow, Saving America? Faith-based Services and the Future of Civil Society, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.

78 R Allahyari, Visions of Charity: Volunteer Workers and Moral Community, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000.

79 PL Berger, The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B Eerdmans, 1999, p 18.

80 S Alkire, ‘Religion and development’, in DA Clark (ed), Elgar Companion to Development Studies, Massachusetts: Edward Elgar, 2006, p 508.

81 D Hilhorst, The Real World of ngos, London: Zed Books, 2003; and D Lewis & D Mosse, Development Brokers and Translators: The Ethnography of Aid Agencies, Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Books, 2006.

82 N Long, Encounters at the Interface: A Perspective on Social Discontinuities in Rural Development, Wageningen: Wageningen Agricultural University, 1989; and JP Olivier de Sardan, Anthropology and Development: Understanding Contemporary Social Change, London: Zed Books, 2005.