The Catholic church and regional governance in west Africa

• Published in: International affairs (London) Vol. 99; no. 2; pp. 747 - 767
• Main Author: Iheduru, Okechukwu C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 06.03.2023
• Subjects: Catholics; Church & state; Civil society; Clergy; Compromises; Conferences; Cooptation; Democracy; Governance; Hegemony; Interfaith; Presumption; Regional government; Regionalism; Regions; Secularization; Social forces; Africa; civil society; ECOWAS; participatory regionalism; Catholic church; regional governance; Africa
• ISSN: 0020-5850; 1468-2346
• DOI: 10.1093/ia/iiad019

This article explores the transforming relationship between the Catholic church and states in west Africa. In response to its diminishing influence in national politics, the church is increasingly participating in regional organizations like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Abstract ‘Catholic regionalism’ in west Africa exemplifies the capacity of theological claims and theologically informed actors to influence regional governance and international affairs. It is driven by four mutually reinforcing factors: interfaith competition for policy influence and followership, shrinking domestic political space for civil society organizations (CSOs), and de-secularization/counter-secularization pressures (all of which have substantially diminished the church's erstwhile influence); as well as Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) reforms granting ‘access’ to CSOs in regional policy. Through a strategy of ‘fateful compromise’ with regional states, the church has, more than its counterparts, developed substantial capacity to influence how regional integration organizations frame and implement policy in Africa. The empirical evidence is derived from fieldwork interviews on the activities of church leaders, namely the bishops represented by the Regional Catholic Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA); the Catholic bishops’ conferences in Ghana and Nigeria, where interfaith hegemonic competition is most intense; and ECOWAS Commission bureaucrats. The article enriches the ‘new regionalism’ framework with a template to better understand the regional governance activities of Africa's faith-based actors; and contributes to the literature by introducing the concept of ‘fateful compromise’ suggesting multiple trajectories in church-state relations, contrary to the presumption of inevitable ‘elite cooptation’ of social forces as the only option for inclusive or collaborative governance in societies experiencing regression in democracy.