Kate Baldwin’s Faith in Democracy: the logic of church advocacy for liberal democratic institutions in Africa is a valuable resource for African political research. Through a thorough analysis of Christian churches in sub-Saharan Africa, this book departs from the established frameworks of traditional religious-political research. It reveals the core logic behind church advocacy for liberal democracy and sheds new light on the relationship between non-state actors and the process of democratization.
The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 builds a theoretical framework to clarify the relationship between investment in church education and autocratic risk. Parts 2 and 3 examine the impact of education investment and financial dependence on the democratic action of the church, as well as the protective role of the liberal democratic system in the interests of church education. Part 4 extends to the long-term impact of church education on citizenship.
The argument of this book breaks the binary perception that the church either supports authority or is naturally pro-democracy. Baldwin argues that the advocacy of liberal democracy by the African church stems not from theological doctrines or identity, but rather from the ‘autocratic risk exposure’ (p. 29) created by its investment in education, compounded by its financial dependence on the government. The church takes schools as the core carriers of evangelism, and such educational activities are highly vulnerable to government supervision (such as teacher appointment, curriculum setting and control). Therefore, the larger its school system, the more motivated it is to protect educational autonomy by defending liberal democratic systems. Conversely, if church schools rely heavily on government subsidies, their motivation for democratic advocacy will be significantly weakened in order to avoid financial interruptions.
The book also innovates in its research methods, combining systematic quantitative research and in-depth qualitative research. Baldwin constructs original data on eighty-one churches from thirty-four African countries, covering core variables such as the democratic action of the church, the size of the education system and government subsidies from 2009 to 2018, and verifies the main hypothesis through OLS (ordinary least squares) regression and instrumental variable methods. The ‘school fee-removal policies’ (p. 102) are used as a natural experiment to test the regulatory effect of government subsidies on church actions by the difference-in-differences method. Simultaneously, the book selects Zambia, Tanzania and Ghana for case studies to track the process and mechanism of the church’s democratic action. The impact of church actions on citizens’ attitudes is also verified through public opinion surveys and endorsement experiments, laying a solid empirical foundation for research.
Starting from the ‘institutional interests’ (p. 34) of the church, this book takes education investment as the core explanatory variable and systematically explains the differences in democratic actions of African churches for the first time, an achievement that fills the gaps in two major research fields. In religious and political research, the service provision (education) of non-state actors is directly linked to political action, revealing the inherent logic of ‘service supply–interest risk–political advocacy’. In the study of democratization, it breaks through the traditional framework of class mobilization and elite bargaining. Baldwin highlights the unique role of religious organizations as key non-state actors, thus providing another dimension for understanding the complexity of African democratization.
The core advantage of this book lies in its combination of theoretical innovation and empirical rigour. The use of education investment as a bridge between the interests of the church and the advocacy of democracy explains why some churches advocate democracy while others do not. Mixed methods overcome the limitations of single-method approaches, with cross-national data and rich cases effectively showcasing the theory’s practical explanatory power. The reverse examination in this book of how liberal democracy protects the interests of the church further strengthens theoretical coherence and reflects the depth of research.
However, this book still has certain limitations. The scope of research is limited to the Christian church. Although Baldwin explains the special characteristics of Islamic educational institutions, she ignores the comparison of political behaviours of different religious educational institutions against the background of African religious pluralism, which constitutes a research blind spot. Furthermore, the discussion of the internal decision-making process of the church is insufficient, failing to fully explain how church leaders balance educational interests against political risks or to analyse differences in decision-making mechanisms across denominations.
In sum, despite its limitations, the book’s departure from a traditional framework provides room for subsequent research, which is of great significance for understanding how non-state actors affect changes in political systems. This book is aimed at scholars who study African politics, religious politics and democratization, researchers who pay attention to the impact of non-state actors on institutional change, and policymakers concerned with African governance.
