Religion and Development: A Practitioner's Perspective on Instrumentalisation

Some international development agencies from Europe and North America, as well as some multilateral agencies, have played a critical role in instrumentalising religion in their development policy and practice. This article, written from the perspective of an activist?scholar, reflects on how religion has featured in these donor policies and the implications for advancing rights?based gender agendas in various contexts. It argues that development policy towards religion takes three broad approaches which are neither mutually exclusive nor do they unfold in a particular linear path. These approaches are to see religion as the main developmental obstacle, the only developmental issue to the exclusion of all others, and the primary solution to developmental problems. All three approaches are problematised in this article and are bound by their essentialisation of ‘Muslim women’ as a homogeneous group, as if bound by a common identity and a common set of needs

Familles musulmanes

La famille peut constituer à la fois un repère et une entrave dans un parcours de vie. Les efforts des femmes musulmanes pour s’émanciper de la tutelle des fondamentalistes ont conduit à la création d’un mouvement mondial pour l’égalité et la justice dans les familles musulmanes. Né en 2009, Musawah regroupe les luttes et les revendications des féministes musulmanes sur de nombreux terrains. Iran, Algérie, Turquie, Maroc… dans tous ces pays, des femmes sont parvenues à réformer leur statut au sein de la société civile

Secularism, Racism and the Politics of Belonging

This collection of papers is a reflection of an ongoing debate about the relationships between religion, the citizen and the state. It is a debate that is far from settled, and indeed one which may be unsettling, but a debate which too often generates more heat than light. It is, however, a crucial discussion since it goes to the heart of our understanding of modern citizenship, the role of the state and the struggle for equality. Runnymede was especially pleased to partner with colleagues at the Centre for Refugees, Migration and Belonging (CRMB) at the University of East London in co-hosting the two conferences from which these papers are drawn. CRMB’s serious and engaged approach to relating political theory to political action enabled academics, commentators and practitioners to share a platform where disagreements were aired and constructive debate and discussion enabled. We hope that the conferences act as a model for the deliberations which are necessary to address the thorny challenges raised by the authors. Many of these disagreements are reflected in the papers presented here. The collected papers discuss faith-based schooling, the veil, honour based violence, religious arbitration, and the delivery of public services by faith communities. All of these issues remain very much alive in contemporary public policy debates in the UK and beyond

The Network ‘Women Living Under Muslim Laws’: Strengthening local struggles through cross-boundary networking

Cassandra Balchin argues that globalization has facilitated the growth of identity politics as well as a transnational feminist response. The international network of information, solidarity and support, Women Living Under Muslim Laws, links groups and individuals in Muslim countries and communities in order to strengthen their local struggles and individual women's pursuit of autonomy. Its cross-boundary sharing of the lived experience of women, and the diversities and similarities of these experiences, has crystallized new ways of thinking around culture, identity and women's rights among networkers and their allies beyond Muslim countries and communities. Development (2002) 45, 126–131. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1110331

Assessing the impact of a regulatory intervention in Pakistan

In 1990 paediatric formulations of antimotility drugs were deregistered in Pakistan. Although preliminary research data suggests the incidence of paralytic ileus in children suffering from acute diarrhoea has fallen, cases continue to be recorded. A small-scale survey conducted in 1993 to assess the effectiveness of the regulatory intervention conclusively proved that while the deregistered products had been successfully withdrawn from the overwhelming majority of retail outlets, blackmarketing of a paediatric antimotility drug was taking place in one city. The results also indicated that throughout the country the deregistered formulations were being substituted by other irrational therapies, including the misuse of adult formulations. As a regulatory intervention, therefore, deregistration needs to be accompanied by efforts to change patient attitudes and physician prescribing habits.regulatory intervention Pakistan antidiarrhoeals paralytic ileus

Musulmanes et féministes en Grande-Bretagne

Le terrorisme international et les attentats de Londres en 2005 ont mis un terme à une relative neutralité politique de l’islam en Grande-Bretagne. Ce dossier analyse comment les femmes musulmanes britanniques se mobilisent en tentant de concilier identité et culture musulmane, défense des droits des femmes, activisme civique et politique. The international terrorism and the attempts of London in 2005 put an end to a relative political neutrality of the Islam in Great Britain. This file analyzes how the British Muslim women mobilize by trying to reconcile identity and culture Muslim, defense of the rights of the women, civic and political activism