PARTICIPANTS

Daniel Philpott
Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame

Daniel Philpott is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.  He pursues research on the role of religion in global politics, especially in democratization, reconciliation, transitional justice, and the formation of the global sovereign states system.  He is the author of Revolutions in Sovereignty: How Ideas Shaped Modern International Relations and editor of The Politics of Past Evil: Religion, Reconciliation, and Transitional Justice.  He is currently writing Just and Unjust Peace: An Ethic of Political Reconciliation, a book that derives from Christianity, Judaism, and Islam an ethic for dealing with the injustices of war, genocide, and authoritarianism.  He also works to promote faith-based reconciliation in Kashmir as a Senior Associate of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy in Washington, D.C.

Paragraph Statement

Question: What do you think is the most important issue involving religion that confronts international NGOs?

The global explosion of NGOs in the second half of the twentieth century, sociologists John Boli and George Thomas have argued, has been dominated by organizations bearing Enlightenment values of individual freedom, market rationality, and liberal models of economic development.  An equally important global trend during the same period was the global resurgence of religion, a trend that entirely defied the Enlightenment expectation of secularization.  But the character of religious communities and actors varies widely.  Some broker peace agreements and promote truth commissions, others advance civil war and terrorism.  Some support democratization, others do not.  If NGOs are to operate effectively, then they must understand the beliefs, goals, and modus operandii of the local religious communities and organizations whose actions bear upon the NGOs’ goals, whether these be promoting human rights, economic development, or health care.  One of the most important features of religious communities is their political orientation.  What sort of regime do they seek?  A democratic one?  One governed by shari’a?  In what form or degree?  Are they opponents of the regime?  Supporters of it?  Do they advocate violent means?  Peaceful means?  What sort of relationship with the state do they enjoy?  Is it a closely “integralist” one where they receive financial and legal support from the state?  Or do they practice autonomously?  Or does the state seek to suppress them?  Advancing systematic propositions about the political character of religious actors is an important agenda for social science research, one whose results would be useful for NGOs.

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