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Examines the benefits of links between Christian and Muslim religious leaders and state elites, and the challenge to state authority of popular religious groups.

A review essay on books by: Said Amir Arjomand (Ed), The Political Dimensions of Religion (Albany, NY: State U of New York Press, 1993); Holger Bernt Hansen & Michael Twaddle (Eds), Religion and Politics in East Africa. The Period since Independence (London, Nairobi, Kampala, & Athens: James Currey, EAEP, Foundation Publishers, Ohio U Press, 1995); Niels Kastfelt, Religion and Politics in Nigeria. A Study in Middle Belt Christianity (London: British Academic Press, 1994); Ane Marie Bak Rasmussen, A History of the Quaker Movement in Africa (London: British Academic Press, 1995); Kees Schilder, Self Esteem. State, Islam, and Mundang Ethnicity in Northern Cameroon (Aldershot, England: Avebury, African Studies Centre, Leidein, 1994); & Leonardo A. Villalon, Islamic Society and State Power in Senegal. Disciples and Citizens in Fatick (Cambridge: Cambridge U Press, 1995 [see listings in IRPS No. 86]). These books explore the nature of the relationship between religion & politics, particularly in Africa, over the last several decades, as well as the diversity of religious beliefs, ethnic divisions, cultural distinctions, & political modes. Each emphasizes the recent social, political, & economic upheaval in Africa while examining the question of national orientation, the appeal of religious actors as political leaders, & the impact of religious fundamentalism on national politics. In this regard, the theory that urbanization, education, & economic development would diminish the impact of religion is disproved. It is concluded that since modernization has left many people with a sense of loss, new analytical models & paradigms are needed to understand developments in Africa & the Third World. M. Greenberg