Faith in democracy : the logic of church advocacy for liberal democratic institutions in Africa / Kate Baldwin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baldwin, Kate, 1979- author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in comparative politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christianity and politics--Africa.

Christianity and politics.

Democracy--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Democracy.

Democracy--Africa.

Liberalism--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Liberalism.

Liberalism--Africa.

Africa.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 291 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2026.

Summary:

"Why have some churches in Africa engaged in advocacy for stronger liberal democratic institutions while others have not? Faith in Democracy explores this question, emphasizing the benefits of liberal democratic protections for some churches. The book explains how churches' historic investments create different autocratic risk exposure, as states can more easily regulate certain activities – including social service provision – than others. In situations where churches have invested in schools as part of their evangelization activities, which create high autocratic risk, churches have incentives to defend liberal democratic institutions to protect their control over them. This theory also explains how church fiscal dependence on the state interacts with education provision to change incentives for advocacy. Empirically, the book demonstrates when churches engage in democratic activism, drawing on church-level data from across the continent, and the effects of church activism, drawing on micro-level evidence from Zambia, Tanzania and Ghana"-- Cambridge University Press.

Contents:

Church interests in liberal democracy

Liberal democracy as an institutional guarantee of church interests

The politics of church education in sub-Saharan Africa

Evidence on church democratic activism in Africa : the effect of church schools and autocratic risk exposure

Evidence on Catholic democratic activism in Africa : the effect of church school dependence on state subsidies

Church activism and support for liberal democratic institutions : evidence from Zambia and Tanzania

Tracing liberal democracy's influence on educational policy : evidence from Zambia, Ghana, and beyond

Church school legacies for citizenship : evidence from Zambia and Tanzania

Reconsidering churches, education, and democracy in the contemporary world.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge University Press, viewed November 14, 2025).

Other Format:

Print version: Baldwin, Kate, 1979- Faith in democracy

ISBN:

9781009391634

1009391631

9781009391603

1009391607

OCLC:

1539297715

Publisher Number:

CIPO000281487

CIPO000285819

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license