Workshop 01: Social Policy and Religion in the Middle East: Questioning Existing Paradigms
Social Policy and Religion in the Middle East: Questioning Existing Paradigms
directed by:
Abstract
This workshop will engage with the critical role which religion, particularly the three Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism and Islam), play in shaping social policy in the Middle East. Not only will it seek to foster deeper debate about the dynamics of social welfare in Middle Eastern contexts, it will also help to develop better understanding of how social welfare provision constitutes the comparative advantage which political movements of a religious leaning in the region have over the state. Thus, the workshop will explore how the study of religious welfare in the Middle East can offer a unique and innovative perspective on the political dynamics in that region. Moreover, it can shed light on new possibilities of public action in the region against poverty and human deprivation. This will help to develop theoretical debate on new classifications of the welfare regimes in the Middle East beyond for example, the narrow classification of the Rentier state in the Arab countries. To this end, the workshop comes at a time of increasing interest in social policy in this region, as can be particularly noted in the policies of international development organisations such as the World Bank and UN-ESCWA. The workshop will therefore, provide a space for critical academic debate and a potential research agenda on a poorly understood area of study.
Key words: Middle East, Religion, Social Policy, Welfare Regimes, Rentier state
Workshop Description
The Workshop Subject-Matter in the Context of the Academic Literature and New Policy Developments
This workshop will engage with the critical role which religion, particularly the three Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism and Islam), plays in shaping social policy in the Middle East. Not only will it seek to foster deeper debate about the dynamics of social welfare in Middle Eastern contexts, it will also help to develop a better understanding of how social welfare provision constitutes the comparative advantage which political movements of a religious leaning in the region have over the state. Thus the workshop will show how the study of religious welfare in the Middle East can offer a unique and innovative perspective on the political dynamics in that region. Moreover, it can shed light on new possibilities for public action in the region against poverty and human deprivation.
There are important developments in the field of social policy and in the international community which provide the intellectual impetus for a workshop on international social policy and religious welfare. These include the increasingly international character of social policy studies (spearheaded by globalisation and an interest in East Asian welfare regimes) (Midgley & Tang, 2009; Yeates, 2008); new partnerships between the state and faith groups in the UK and USA following welfare reform legislation (Bacon, 2006) and the increasing attention that international institutions (such as The World Bank and the UK Department for International Development) devote to faith-based activity (Clarke and Jennings, 2008). This is exemplified by the establishment of the DfID-funded programme on Religion and Development at Birmingham University, UK, and the Berkley Center at Georgetown University in Washington DC, USA.
At a regional level, the UN’s Economic and Social Council for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA) has begun take a keen interest in social policy in the Middle East, as evidenced by the publication in recent years of a series of Social Policy reports, the third of which SPRIII: Visions and Strategies in ESCWA (December 2009) makes explicit reference to the key role which religion, particularly Islamic values, plays in shaping government visions of social policy and local experiences of social welfare in the ESCWA region.
As a field of academic enquiry and an arm of public policy in the advanced capitalist economies of the Western world (Hill, 2006), social policy has been largely disassociated from most countries in the region of the Middle East for the greater part of their histories as modern nation-states (Jawad, 2007). The result is a narrow characterisation of the political and social dynamics of public action in the Muslim-populated countries of the region Often this has rested on the classification of the Rentier state (Luciani, 1990; Karshenas and Moghadam, 2006), which refers to the almost exclusive dependence of the state in the Middle East upon revenues from natural resources (hydro carbon gas and petroleum oil) to finance social and public services. This has hampered the development of citizenship or social rights as the bases of the social contract between state and society. However, this classification is not only relevant primarily to oil-producing countries (the Gulf states, Iraq, Iran and Algeria), but it also excludes other actors in civil society, the family, community and at international level; as well as a large variety of historical, cultural and political forces which have influenced human wellbeing directly (Jawad, 2009). While social policy in Turkey and Israel has enjoyed greater and more innovative attention by researchers even in these case the impact of religion has generally been sidelined (Bugra, 2007; Doron, 2003).
Religious identity has long constituted a major driving force behind many of the most enduring political, social and pro-poor movements (Clarke and Jennings, 2008). In the Middle East, some well-known illustrations of this include the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey, Shas in Israel, Hamas in the Occupied Palestinian Territories , and Hizbullah in Lebanon. There is a growing literature on faith-based welfare around the world which is establishing firm ground for religious identity to be a formal actor in public action (Bacon, 2006; Clarke and Jennings, 2008; Tyndale, 2006; Van Kersbergen & Manow, 2009), yet so far, much of this literature remains largely descriptive in nature. In Development Studies, Clarke and Jennings (2008), Tyndale (2006) and Tomalin (2008) offer a particular view of the achievements of faith-based organisations with regard to the Millenium Development Goals. In the Western social policy context, faith-based welfare is often located within the broader literature on the voluntary sector (Bacon, 2006; Cnaan & Boddie, 2002). Some authors have also demonstrated the historical and institutional links between Christianity and social policy in Western Europe and North America (Hollinger et al. 2007, Kahl, 2005). Nevertheless, no comprehensive theoretical analysis has been undertaken to properly conceptualise the implications of faith-based welfare for social policy. Moreover, there remains a tremendous gap in the study of social policy in low-income countries, with Islamic welfare in particular gaining very little attention (Hill, 2006). Weiss (2002) considers Islamic voluntarism in Africa in line with the main focus on Islamic economics of other authors. Clarke (2004) looks at social movement theory in relation to Islamic Social Institutions. In a recent publication, Jawad (2009) discusses new research on the dynamics of religion in social policy in the Lebanese context, with additional insights from Egypt, Iran and Turkey.
Given the apparently important historical and contemporary role of religion in the formulation of social policy in the Middle East and the relative dearth of knowledge on this crucial topic, we believe that there is a strong case for the conducting of a workshop which can help to develop theoretical discussion around social policy and religious welfare in the Middle East, as well as analyse the potential policy implications of faith-based welfare more broadly. This proposal benefits directly from the extensive experience which Jawad and Gal have in the region of the Middle East and the subject area of social policy. For instance, Jawad is currently directing a three year ESRC grant specifically on the role of religion in social policy in the Middle East, which brings together a wide array of international experts whom Jawad and Gal could invite as participants for the workshop. Gal is engaged in a research project on welfare states in the Mediterranean region and has just recently completed the editing of a volume on social policy towards children and families in the Mediterranean. Religion has been identified as a crucial component in this framework.
Thus this workshop will develop debate around the subject area of religious welfare in the Middle East by:
Taking stock of existing knowledge and research on the subject matter of the workshop;
Showcasing new research in the subject matter of the workshop;
Bringing together a diverse group of international researchers and practitioners who can bring together experiences and insights on the region of the Middle East from a comparative perspective;
Helping to develop a network of international researchers and practitioners focusing on religion and social policy;
Aims of the workshop
a) To develop new thinking on the role of religion in social policy and its impact on human well-being and social welfare.
b) To enhance debate in the social sciences by examining the politics and dynamics of social policy in the Middle East with special reference to religion.
c) To identify future avenues for research and networking relative to the subject matter of the workshop.
Key workshop themes/questions
Below are the key questions or themes around which the workshop will be organised. They are all focused on the region of the Middle East and are sufficiently broad to accommodate the potentially path-breaking nature of this workshop.
i) What are the major historical, religious and ideological forces shaping social policy?
ii) How might religious welfare be defined, organised and measured?
iii) What are the gender and distributive implications of faith-based welfare?
iv) How does religious welfare interconnect with economic power, political rule and social order?
v) What problems arise from the interconnection between religion and social policy/welfare?
vi) What typology of social welfare adequately represents the region?
vii) What are the theoretical implications for social policy more broadly?
viii) What are the practical implications for social policy in the region?
References
Bacon, Derek (2006) ‘Faith-Based Organisations and Welfare Provision in Northern Ireland and North America: Whose Agenda?’ in Landscapes of Voluntarism, New Spaces of Health, Welfare and Governance Milligan , Christine, Conradson, David (eds.), The Policy Press, Bristol, pp 173-190
Bugra (2007) ‘Poverty and Citizenship: An Overview of the Social Policy Environment in Republican Turkey’ in International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 39, pp 33-52
Clark, Janine A. (2004) Islam, Charity and Activism: Middle Class Networks and Social Welfare in Egypt, Jordan and Yemen, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis
Clarke, John (2004) Changing Welfare, Changing State – New Directions in Social Policy, Sage Publications, London
Clarke, Gerard and Jennings Michael (2008) ‘Introduction’ in Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations - Bridging the Sacred and the Secular, Clarke, Gerard and Jennings Michael (eds.), Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire
Cnaan, Ram A. and Boddie, S.C. (2002) The Invisible Caring Hand:? American Congregations and the Provision ofWelfare. New York: New York University Press
Doron, Abraham (2003) ‘The Israeli Welfare Regime: Changes and their Social Implications’, Israeli Sociology5(2):417-434. (Hebrew)
Hall, Anthony and Midgley, James (2004) Social Policy for Development, Sage, London
Hill, Michael (2006) Social Policy in the Modern World, A Comparative Text, Blackwell, UK
Hollinger, Franz; Haller, Max; Valle-Hollinger, Adriana (2007) ‘ Christian Religion, Society and the State in the modern world’, Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 20(2), pp 133-157
Jawad, Rana (2009) Social Welfare and Religion in the Middle East, The Policy Press, Bristol
Jawad, Rana (2007) ‘Human Ethics and Particularism: An Exploration of the Social Welfare Regime in Lebanon’, Ethics and Social Welfare, 1(2), pp 123-146
Kahl, Sigrun (2005) ‘The Religious Roots of Modern Poverty Policy: Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed Protestant Traditions Compared’, Archives Européennes de Sociologie (European Journal of Sociology), XLVI, 1 (2005), pp. 91-126
Karshenas, Massoud and Moghadam, Valentine (2006) ‘Social Policy in the Middle East: Introduction and Overview’ in Social Policy in the Middle East, UNRISD Social Policy in a Development Context Series, Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Luciani, Giacomo (1990) ‘Introduction’ in The Arab State, Luciani, Giacomo (ed.) Routledge, London
Mayer, Victoria (2008) ‘Crafting a New Conservative Consensus on Welfare Reform: Redefining Citizenship, Social Provision, and the Public/Private Divide’ in Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society,
Mdgley, James and Tang, K. L. (eds.) (2009). Social Policy and Poverty in East Asia. New York: Routledge.
Richardson Rudy and Kramer Eric Hans (2006) ‘Abduction as the Type of Inference that Characterises the Development of a Grounded Theory’, Qualitative Research, 6(4), pp 497-513
Saeidi, Ali (2004) ‘The Accountability of para-governmental organizations (bonyads): The case of Iranian foundations, International Society for Iranian Studies, 37(3), pp 479-498
Tomalin Emma (2008) ‘Faith and Development’ in The Companion to Development Studies, Desai, Vandana and Potter, Robert B. (eds.), pp 485-489, Hodder Education, UK
Tripp, Charles (2006) Islam and the Moral Economy, The Challenge of Capitalism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Tyndale, Wendy (2006) Visions of Development – Faith-Based Initiatives, Ashgate, Hampshire
Van Kersbergen, Kees and Manow, Philip (eds)(2009) Religion, Class Coalitions, and Welfare States, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
Weiss, Holgar (2002) ‘Reorganising Social Welfare among Muslims: Islamic Voluntarism and other forms of Communal Support in Northern Ghana’, Journal of Religion in Africa, 32 (1), pp 83-109
Yeates, Nicola (ed.) (2008) Understanding Global Social Policy, Bristol, Policy Press
Page last updated on 04 September 2018