ABSTRACT
This chapter examines interactions between key religious and political actors in the context of the third wave of democracy. It focuses on Turkey, an example of a strongly Muslim country that shifted from authoritarian rule to democratic rule during the third wave, and the role of selected Christian churches in several Sub-Saharan African countries during the same period. The chapter compares and contrasts how ‘Islamic’ and ‘Christian’ actors engaged with democratisation during the third wave in two previously undemocratic contexts: Turkey and Sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on the relationship of senior religious figures to the state in Africa and the role of the former in regional countries’ attempts to democratise. The chapter examines the political importance of ‘popular’ religions – that is, religions not legitimised by a close relationship between their leaders and those of the state, but instead with bottom-up structures rooted in grassroots concerns.
