BENEVOLENT SECULARISM: THE EMERGENCE AND EVOLUTION OF THE RELIGIOUS POLITICS OF DEMOCRACY IN IRELAND, SENEGAL AND THE PHILIPPINES A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Government By David Timothy Buckley, M.A. Washington, DC April 16, 2013 Copyright 2013 by David Timothy Buckley All Rights Reserved BENEVOLENT SECULARISM: THE EMERGENCE AND EVOLUTION OF THE RELIGIOUS POLITICS OF DEMOCRACY IN IRELAND, SENEGAL AND THE PHILIPPINES David Timothy Buckley, M.A. Thesis Advisor: Thomas Banchoff, Ph.D. ABSTRACT What explains the emergence and endurance of what Alfred Stepan has termed the “twin tolerations” between religion and democracy? This question is of broad comparative importance, from religiously vibrant democracies in Asia and Latin America to newly plural societies in Western Europe and the states of the Arab Awakening still struggling to consolidate democratic politics. I argue that the institutional relationship between religion and state proves crucial in explaining why religion sometimes seems to threaten democratic politics, while at others strengthening it. One type of religion-state relationship, which I term “benevolent secularism,” has been decisive in securing the twin tolerations, even in the context of a dominant religious majority. Institutional design matters both during critical junctures, “secular emergence,” and over time as institutions confront new challenges in periods of “secular evolution.” During critical junctures, institutional design shapes the preferences of key blocs of actors: the religious majority, political elites, and religious minorities. Over time, these institutional effects within blocs facilitate coalition alliances among these groups that (1) reduce the severity of religious- secular divide and (2) improve interfaith relations. I test these hypothesized institutional effects with a mixed-methods research design that incorporates data from three least- likely cases for the twin tolerations: Ireland, Senegal, and the Philippines. Archival research documents the impact of institutional design at critical junctures, elite interviews track coalition alliances over time, and public opinion data tests whether these alliances exist among the general public. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My first thanks go to Tom Banchoff, this dissertation’s director and my own guide through Georgetown’s doctoral program. My first meeting with Tom convinced me to enroll at Georgetown as an intellectual home for the study of religion and comparative politics, in spite of the fact that it took place in the midst of loud renovations at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs. As the project developed, Tom was an ideal director, balancing critical engagement with the intellectual freedom. When I got bogged down in the weeds of a case, Tom would bring my focus back to the project as a whole, and when the time came for detailed reading of case studies, Tom ensured that each one contributed to the overall research design. His taste in football teams is questionable, but his judgment in doctoral advice is unimpeachable. This project also owes significant debts to my other committee members. José Casanova was a constant source of unexpected comparative insights, introductions in planning for the field, and encouragement for the ambitious geographic scope of the project. Clyde Wilcox has been an ideal mentor in religion and pubic opinion research, both for this project and others. I always leave his office more excited about research, which is a great quality in a graduate advisor. Al Stepan’s trailblazing work on the “twin tolerations” was in many ways the foundation my research, and it was an honor to have his energetic input. My trip to present this research at his Center for Democracy, Religion and Toleration at Columbia was a major step in the project’s development. The project would not have been possible without the generous support of the Social Science Research Council’s Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship, and funding from the Cosmos Club Foundation. Both provided essential financial support for the field research that grounds the case comparisons. The SSRC’s support through the DPDF program also played a formative role in the project’s development. Vincent Pecora of the University of Utah and Jonathan Sheehan of the University of California – Berkeley, convened the After Secularization group through the SSRC, and built a fantastic group of young scholars working on questions of religion, secularism and public life. It was my pleasure to have their input, particularly when that input came in Southern California. Over the course of three periods of field research, I have incurred more debts than I can possibly hope to repay. Research centers in each field site were essential to my work. The West Africa Research Center in Dakar, the Ateneo Center for Asian Studies at the Ateneo de Manila University, and the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin were all ideal homes for periods of visiting fellowship, combining intellectual support with a welcoming scholarly environment. Ousmane Sene and the late Mame Coumba Ndoye at the WARC, Lydia Yu-Jose at ACAS, and Gillian Wylie and Geraldine Smyth at ISE were incredibly generous with everything from Internet access to field contacts to locating lodging. Mame Coumba was a great support and source of laughter during my time in Dakar. Brian and Avegrace Marana from Manila and Nick and Emily Johnson from Dublin can bunk with me anytime. Generous professional colleagues helped me with interview sampling in each field site, especially Etienne Smith and Assane Diagne in Dakar and Eleanor Dionisio, Jonathan Chow and Jayeel Cornelio in Manila. Each of my interview subjects contributed significantly to the project’s success. Thankfully, the American saying that one should not talk about religion and politics in polite company did not hold up on a comparative basis! The interviews simply could not have succeeded without their candor, good humor, and flexible schedules; I thank them for their insights into the relationship between religion and politics in their home countries. I am also thankful to archivists and staff at the Archives Nationales du Sénégal, the Filipiniana Section of the Rizal Library at the Ateneo de Manila University, Trinity College Library Dublin, and the Archives of the Archdiocese of Dublin. Mahar Mangahas of Social Weather Stations in Quezon City, Philippines, Babaly Sall of Groupe d’Études et de Recherches Constitutionnelles et Politiques (GERCOP) at the University of Gaston Berger in St. Louis, Senegal, and Greg Smith of the Pew Research Group were all quite generous with their assistance in locating relevant public opinion data. My colleagues and friends at Georgetown played an important part in seeing this project through and keeping my spirits up along the way. Luis Felipe Mantilla, Hesham Sallam and Peter Henne share an interest in dynamics of religious-secular bargaining, and all read several versions of the project’s core argument over time. Faculty not on my committee, particularly Marc Morjé Howard, Matt Carnes, Dan Nexon, Desha Girod, Andy Bennett, and Hans Noel played an important role in developing aspects of the research design over time. Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs was an ideal spot to gather intellectual energy and engage in quiet writing, with friends and colleagues Michael Kessler, Katherine Marshall, Tim Shah, Melody Fox Ahmed, Paul Beccio, Amy Vander Vliet and Jamie Scott. EJ Dionne’s energy and passion for issues of religion and democratic life make him an inspiration, and his friendships in the Catholic hierarchy were a significant support to the project’s success. Supportive friends in the Department of Government’s doctoral program are too many to name individually, but special thanks go to the entering class of Fall 2007, the Comparative cohort, and all who bought a round along the way. The members of the ICC 663 Fantasy Baseball League were no help at all. This project has also benefitted immensely from contributions of friends and colleagues beyond Georgetown. This includes especially Dan Philpott, Ahmet Kuru, Michael Driessen, Fred Schaffer, and Nader Hashemi. Students and faculty at the Institute for Qualitative and Multimethod Research gave invaluable feedback on the project’s design. The guidance of Corwin Smidt, Bud Kellstedt and James Guth at Calvin College’s Henry Institute Workshop in Religion and Public Opinion laid the foundation for the survey analysis in this piece. And the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen’s Summer School on Religion and Public Life in Cortona, Italy was an ideal setting, both intellectually and geographically, to develop the project with friends. It is impossible to capture the gratitude I owe to my closest family. My parents, James and Christine Buckley, have modeled the kind of home and professional lives to which I aspire. Their sacrifices over the years and encouragement in this research mean more than I can say. My wife, Jessica Belue Buckley, made the mistake of marrying me two months before my doctoral program started. She has endured along the way, and I hope to give her the same support in her career researching sustainability in higher education. My daughter, Sarah Hepburn Buckley, has no idea why her father is typing in the corner, but is, as usual, tolerating my neglect