The Role of Protestantism in Democratic Consolidation Among Transitional States

• Published date: 01 July 2009
• Author: Rollin F. Tusalem
• Date: 01 July 2009
• DOI: 10.1177/0010414008330596
• Subject Matter: Articles

882

The Role of Protestantism

in Democratic

Consolidation Among

Transitional States

Rollin F. Tusalem

Arkansas State University

Previous studies have examined the causal link between Protestantism and

democratization, primarily in shaping a nation-state’s cultural ethos and its

tendency to affect the outcome of democratic politics. Historically, Protestantism

has also been linked to generating a political culture that promotes individual-

ism, tolerance, the pluralism of ideas, and civic associationalism. Recent

empirical evidence also shows how Protestant countries are more likely to be

democratic compared to largely Islamic and Catholic states. Drawing from

established cultural theories, the author empirically tests the argument

whether or not transitional states with larger Protestant populations are more

likely to strengthen their democracies. Findings indicate that transitional

states that have higher Protestant populations are more likely to have higher

levels of voice and accountability, political stability, citizenship empower-

ment, and civil society pluralism. The author contends that transitional

states with higher Protestant populations are more likely to consolidate their

democracies.

Keywords: Protestantism; democratic consolidation; democratization; politi-

cal culture; religion and politics; transitional states

The role of religion on the democratization process has been reassessed

in the literature quite recently (Anderson, 2004; Berger, 2004; Bruce,

2004; Fish, 2002; Freston, 2004; Gill, 2004; Philpott, 2004, 2007; Woodberry

& Shah, 2004). Although the notion that Protestantism promotes cultural

predispositions conducive to the growth of market economies has long been

established (Weber, 1904/1992), democratization scholars have also began

Comparative Political Studies

Volume 42 Number 7

July 2009 882-915

© 2009 SAGE Publications

10.1177/0010414008330596

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Author’s Note: I am grateful to the valuable comments and suggestions of Doh C. Shin,

L. Marvin Overby, Jonathan Krieckhaus, and two anonymous reviewers of Comparative

Political Studies.

Tusalem / The Role of Protestantism in Democracy 883

to unravel how Protestantism led to the rise of liberal democracies. For

instance, it is argued that the reformism associated with early Protestantism

led to an emphasis on egalitarianism, civil society formation, and social

inclusion that made it possible for early Western European states to build

consensus-based democracies (Bruce, 2003, 2004).

Where does Protestantism enter the fray of the debate about democrati-

zation? Bollen and Jackman (1985) conducted the first empirical assess-

ment establishing the link between Protestantism and democracy. They

discover that in the 1960s the percentage of the population that is Protestant

has a significant and positive effect on higher levels of political democracy

among postcolonial states while controlling for disparate levels of eco-

nomic development. This is later revisited by Anderson (2004), who finds

that the Freedom House political rights and civil liberties average scores of

states in 2002 were higher in countries where the majority of the population

is Protestant compared to predominantly Catholic and Islamic countries.

Clague, Gleason, and Knack (2001) also find that the average Freedom

House score among non–Muslim states increased since the 1980s, but those

of Muslim states have not. Grier (1997) also finds significant evidence that

largely Protestant postcolonial countries in Africa have the highest eco-

nomic growth rates, which may set these countries to develop strong middle-

class segments that can facilitate the growth of liberal democracies in the

region. But the specific contours of the link between Protestantism and

democracy among transitional states since the third wave remain under-

studied and empirically untested while controlling for each transitional

state’s disparate colonial experiences, institutional arrangements, and levels

of economic development. Thus, it is important to address the puzzle of

whether or not Protestantism has an enduring role in the consolidation of

democracies. This study tries to address the gap in the literature and seeks

to provide answers.

The major objective of this study is to determine if the so-called effect

of Protestantism on democracy is applicable not only in the context of first-

wave democracies that had high Protestant populations, but if transitional

states with substantial Protestant populations are also more likely to con-

solidate their democracies post-transition.

The article proceeds in five sections. The first part investigates the link on

how Protestantism promotes a democratic political culture. Next, I explain

the cultural theories about how Protestantism is more normatively compatible

to democracies than other world religions (specifically Islam and Catholicism).

The role of Protestantism in promoting democratic openness among transitional

884 Comparative Political Studies

states will be explored in the third section. I then present the hypotheses of

the study and provide a detailed explanation of the research design in the

next section. The final section presents and discusses the findings and offers

insights based on case study evidence.

Protestantism and the Promotion of Norm

Adherence, Individualism, and Democratic Values

There are various theories on how Protestantism leads citizens to commit

themselves to democratic values. One theory suggests that the Protestant

ethic emanates from a voluntary religion, where adherents are not forced to

believe in something that they do not. Religious faith, in other words, is

based on the ability to independently rationalize and humanity’s emancipa-

tion from the dictates of a hierarchical order (Beach, 1952). Norm adherence

among Protestants also became more prominent among the faithful in the

early part of the 20th century, “where the concern of Protestant morality

shifted from the pietistic preoccupation with private morality, household

virtues and vices, to public morality or what is loosely called as social eth-

ics” (Beach, 1952, p. 116). The growing sectarian nature of Protestantism

led to the promotion of moral ethics that transcended the distinction between

the private realm and the public realm, in such a way that adherents became

more concerned about issues of social justice, the respect for individualism,

the promotion of equality, and a growing desire to tolerate the pluralism of

ideas. This fundamental shift in focus from how citizens should live their

lives to how the public realm should function was ultimately a catalyst that

brought in freedom in thought and action among adherents of the faith

(De Gruchy, 1995; Matthews, 1929; Ramsey, 1950).

But what makes Protestant states more likely to be increasingly demo-

cratic? Do Protestant leaders or institutions create the political environment

for further democratic opening to occur? Or does Protestantism promote a

particular democratic culture? The answer seems to be that the history of

Protestantism itself promotes democratic values.

Scholars have reached the consensus that countries with a long-standing

presence of Protestantism actually developed institutional structures that

made democratic politics more realizable (Woodberry & Shah, 2004). In its

early attempt to compete with Catholicism, Protestantism sought to bridge

out denominational differences and to “neglect the original base of division”

in an attempt to carry out its mission to evangelize (Matthews, 1929, p. 183).

There was even a tendency to federate in order that the ecclesiastical