Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations : Bridging the Sacred and the Secular

This book examines the role of faith-based organizations in managing international aid, providing services, defending human rights and protecting democracy. It argues that greater engagement with faith communities and organizations is needed, and questions traditional secularism that has underpinned development policy and practice in the North. Since the 1990s, civil society has been a significant locus of concern in development studies, but this concern has been noticeable for its neglect of religion and faith and their role in international development. This collection uses the analytical lens of faith-based organizations (FBOs) to redress this gap. Development policymakers, practitioners and academics have little understanding of FBOs, seeing them as exclusive and chauvinistic organizations. Moreover, the secularism of the North, with its traditional separation between church and state, has underpinned development policy and practice of North America and Western Europe. Focusing on Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and examining the work of Christian, Islamic and Hindu organizations, this book argues that FBOs are, in fact, important stakeholders in the development enterprise. FBOs are crucial in managing international aid, they provide services including health and education, they advocate and support human rights, and they uphold ideals of democratic governance. Arguing that faith communities will be central to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, this study overturns previous perceptions of the role of religion and its impact on civil society. Includes a preface by Lord George Carey Front Matter....Pages i-xx Introduction....Pages 1-16 Faith-Based Organizations and International Development: An Overview....Pages 17-45 Intelligent Design?: A Gender-Sensitive Interrogation of Religion and Development....Pages 46-71 The Language of Development: What are International Development Agencies Talking About?....Pages 72-93 The Spirit of Brotherhood: Christianity and Ujamaa in Tanzania....Pages 94-116 Engaged Citizenship: The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in the Post-Authoritarian Philippines....Pages 117-144 FBOs and Change in the Context of Authoritarianism: The Islamic Center Charity Society in Jordan....Pages 145-170 Who’s Afraid of Religion? Tensions between ‘Mission’ and ‘Development’ in the Norwegian Mission Society....Pages 171-186 Saudi Arabian NGOs in Somalia: ‘Wahabi’ Da’wah or Humanitarian Aid?....Pages 187-213 Faith-Based Organizations as Effective Development Partners? Hezbollah and Post-War Reconstruction in Lebanon....Pages 214-239 Hindu Nationalism and the Social Welfare Strategy....Pages 240-259 Conclusion: Faith and Development — of Ethno-separatism, Multiculturalism and Religious Partitioning?....Pages 260-274 Back Matter....Pages 275-279 "Global issues have become an increasingly vital part of environmental debates. They are closely interrelated with problems at local levels. In this wide-ranging study, Robert Boardman argues that investigation of environmental issues raises complex theoretical questions, and requires more sustained links between the natural and social sciences.". "In a closely integrated account of problems in critical ecological theory, Boardman draws extensively on current research in sociology, ecology, economics, the earth sciences and other disciplines. He suggests that ideas from these can be used to expand attention to and the understanding of environmental issues in international relations and international political economy, as well as in social theory more generally.". "The discussion identifies five main theoretical bases for these tasks. These are ecology and earth-system science; constructionist approaches; environmental ethics; micro-level research, particularly perspectives based on rational expectations and on agency; and governance. Connections among these are examined in the context of debates on economics globlization and ecological transformation."--BOOK JACKET. The Farm War of the early 1980s caused subsequent disruptions in world markets, conflicts among major governments and disagreements in international organizations. The Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, ostensibly devoted to the new issues of globalization, dragged on from 1986 to 1993 in an attempt to end farm-subsidy battles. Wolfe shows how and why battles over agricultural protectionism were largely resolved through the Round, demonstrating that the global economy is not self-regulating; it needs institutions if it is to be stable. The Green Box, a core provision of The Agreement on Agriculture, shows how states can decide that certain types of policies should be immune from international regulation by the new World Trade Organization, an elegant compromise between the imperatives of responding to global change and maintaining democratic accountability. Wolfe's analysis will be helpful for planners of the next set of farm trade talks, due to begin in 1999, while the annotated text of The Agreement on Agriculture will be especially useful in introducing students to the complexities of trade policy List Of Tables And Figure -- Acknowledgements -- List Of Abbreviations -- Introduction: The Intersection Of Risk And Trade -- Science In The Regulation Of Risk : A Transatlantic Divide? -- Informal Trade Conflict -- Mad Cows And Transatlantic Trade Conflict -- Resolving Differences Over Stinky Cheese And Bothersome Beetles -- Formal Trade Conflict -- The Dispute Over Hormonal Cattle : The Lead Up To Ec-hormones -- Fearing Frankenfoods : Emergence Of Ec-biotech -- Disputing Chlorinated Chickens : The Politics Underpinning Ec-poultry -- Science And The Politics Of Transatlantic Trade Conflict -- Conclusions: Lessons For Trade Conflict -- Moving Forward -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography. David J. Hornsby, Senior Lecturer In International Relations, University Of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Includes Bibliographical References. Internationally the trade union movement is finding itself peripheralized by a series of mutually reinforcing processes - the ongoing world economic crisis; the uneven transition from an industrial to an information and service capitalism; the aggressive policies of neoliberalism; the collapse of communism and radical nationalism; the decline of the social-democratic or labour tradition - and by a globalization that undermines the nation-state to which union hopes have long been pinned. The editors argue that this crisis provides an opportunity for labour to recover or reinvent itself. They see this in terms of a labour response to the waves of energy coming from the new global social movements (women, ecology, human rights/democracy, and so on). Sri Lanka is hailed internationally for its high standards of education despite rather modest levels of economic growth. Much of this achievement has been underpinned by economic revenues generated by the labours of the plantation community whose own achievements in education fell well below the national norm. In recent years, however, educational participation among this community has increased. Why, and how? A day in the life of Vickneswari provides the starting-point for an analysis of educational progress among the Tamil plantation community. The authors examine various aspects of Japanese financial markets. This analysis is interspersed with the relevant institutional/historical background on Japanese financial markets necessary for the non-specialist. Principal chapters include: an institutional overview; a chapter on the comparative costs of capital (both internationally and among Japanese firms); causes and implications of the high degree of financial intermediation in Japan; and an invaluable analysis of the most recent trends in the Japanese/Asian financial markets This book examines the effect of post-Soviet transitions on current problem solving trends with regards to world capitalism. The fall of Soviet communism left liberal capitalism as the dominant blueprint from which to construct economic development policies. Using Central Europe as an example it is shown that the application of the Western liberal-capitalist model has not been without its difficulties. This book endeavours to place the changes to the global political economy, since 1989, in a theoretical and historical context "Many in South Africa have begun to cope with globalization, regionalization, a depleting ozone layer, new disease, rampant militarization, and structures of influence like race, class, and gender. In this book scholars present a wide variety of thoughts on the future of the region and the place of theory in helping us to understand the array of events characterizing the early 21st-century world."--Jacket International Aid And Development Is Increasingly Channelled Through Religious Groups And This Collection Examines The Role That These Faith-based Organisations Play In Managing International Aid, Providing Services, Such As Health And Education, Defending Human Rights And Protecting Democracy. Written in the context of contemporary theoretical debate in international political economy, this book overturns a number of myths about the political economy of trade in one of the oldest areas of industry. Yvon Grenier ; Foreword By Mitchell A. Seligson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 215-218) And Index.