Divined Intervention - Religious Institutions and Collective Action (Hardcover)

Divined Intervention provides an innovative institutionalist account for why religion enables political activism in some settings, but not others. Christopher W. Hale argues that decentralized religious institutions facilitate grassroots collective action, and he uses a multimethod approach to test this explanation against several theoretical alternatives. Utilizing nationally representative Mexican survey data, the book's statistical analyses demonstrate that decentralization by the Catholic Church is positively associated with greater individual political activism across the country. Using case studies centered in the Mexican states of Chiapas, Yucatan, and Morelos, the author shows that religious decentralization encourages reciprocal cooperative interactions at a local level. This then increases the ability of religion to provide goods and services to its local adherents. These processes then prompt the growth of organizational capacities at the grassroots, enabling secular political activism. Because this theoretical framework is grounded in human behavior, it shows how local institutions politically organize at the grassroots level. Divined Intervention also offers an improved understanding of religion's relationship with political activism, a topic of ever-increasing significance as religion fuels political engagement across the globe. The book further synthesizes seemingly disparate approaches to the study of collective action into a cohesive framework. Finally, there is some debate as to the impact of ethnic diversity on the provision of public goods, and this study helps us understand how local institutional configurations can enable collective action across ethnic boundaries.

General

Imprint:	The University of Michigan Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	March 2020
Authors:	Christopher Wayne Hale
Dimensions:	229 x 152mm (L x W)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	238
ISBN-13:	978-0-472-13181-5
Categories:	Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > General Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > General Books > Law > Jurisprudence & general issues > Foundations of law > General Books > Religion & Spirituality > General
LSN:	0-472-13181-8
Barcode:	9780472131815

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!