Malawi's Local Clergy as Civil Society Activists? The Limiting Impact of Creed, Context and Class

Abstract

This article seeks to enrich understandings of civil society in Africa by examining the political activities of Catholic and Presbyterian clergy in Malawi. Although local clergy are well placed to promote citizen empowerment and state responsiveness at the grassroots level, research revealed that clergy in Malawi have been disinclined to engage in activism toward these ends. The article argues that this limited activism can be understood by devoting attention to three factors: the religious frameworks informing clergy; the larger organisational contexts in which they are situated; and their character as members of a distinct class. The focus on these issues illuminates how larger social influences actually constrain the clergy's propensity to engage in civil society activism. This serves as a reminder that the character of civil society will reflect the dynamics of the social setting, often in a way that undermines its democratising potential.