In the context of the collaboration between the IIRF and the School of International Relations of the Latin American University of Science and Technology (ULACIT) of Costa Rica, students of the course “International Political Economy” developed an analysis of the relationship between religious freedom and development. This post is part of a Blog Series published as the students’ contribution to the IIRF.
Authors:
- Melanie Flores Chen
- Andrea Arrieta
- Camila Hernández Alfaro
The stability of society is on constant change, they can be affected in a positive or negative way depending on the actual situation. For example, the political aspect, the economic situation and even how religion is treated and how much freedom they have. As definefined by the RAE religion refers to:
“A set of beliefs or dogmas about divinity, feelings of veneration and fear towards it, moral norms for individual and social conduct and ritual practices, mainly prayer and sacrifice, to worship it.”
Despite having a concret definition the term can be interpreted in different ways, but religious freedom has its positive and negative aspects.
Positive aspects
If everyone can express their religion freely, we could avoid and prevent conflicts. As we have seen in history, religion is a common cause for disputes. If there existed complete freedom, people could have a dialogue, and it wouldn’t have the need to escalate to a conflict. This aligns with the protection of human rights because everybody is on its right to have freedom and not have to deal with discrimination because of their beliefs. If society is not separated and having conflicts, it could work together to develop and improve as a society.
Negative Aspects
Even though it has positive impacts, there are also negative aspects. One of the most common examples is that religion is used for political manipulation. Some use the religion beliefs and practices to their favor to gain support. So they associate the political party with a specific religious belief. It is also harmful. It is used against some communities such as the LGBTQIA+ community for example, as some people use their beliefs to camouflage or justify certain inexcusable behaviors. These attitudes create a feeling of superiority and of invalidating other religions, creating even more gaps in society and making it even harder to work as a collective. Academics emphasize the importance of promoting religious freedom in diverse societies to create a tolerant and harmonious one. Still, they don’t ignore the reality that many minorities face threats on a daily basis, which not only include discrimination as in many cases violence, death threats, expulsion and persecution are used as punishment. This indicates that it is crucial to promote religious freedom as well as making policies that protect the minorities and also implement these topics in education.
Findings
By conducting a literature review, it was concluded that the majority of the authors support and value the importance of religious freedom. What the authors point out is that religious freedom is present in theory but not as it should be in practice during our daily lives. Still, individuals mention that when put into practice the experience they have has not been with their choice of freedom, instead, having religion imposed upon them and not having the opportunity to evaluate it. In the academic articles they don’t mention a specific country who has been leading and implementing religious freedom in the way it is supposed to be implemented and they state that the majority of countries in the world are not even close to having something similar to that.
An interesting point is that the impact of religious freedom in society has been in discussion for years and it is still present. Even though, with the passing of the years, with globalization allowing us to see the different cultures and religions from other countries, and giving us the opportunity to integrate valuable pieces of different beliefs from around the world in our lives and society, the majority have used this beautiful opportunity to create even barriers and standard that discriminate upon religious beliefs, culture, gender and sexuality. Globalization is accessible to mostly everyone which is marvelous, but however also means that the bad uses it has are also very approachable.
The Impact of Religious Freedom in International Political Economy
Economic Growth & Development
Freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia has affected areas of international economic policy, for example, areas such as economic development and the labor market have been impacted by this phenomenon. As mentioned, Saudi Arabia is one of the Middle Eastern nations that has problems in trying to balance religion with the economic Vision 2030. The country (government and society) has a strong rejection of the separation of state and religion, it is one of the countries in the Middle East that lacks a Constitution and does not allow religious freedom.
For starters, Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, according to Moshashai, Leber, and Savage (2018), proposes an economic diversification away from dependence on petroleum. Saudi Arabia has been one of the leading oil producers and exporters in the world, though Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a speech in 2016 mentioned that oil is no longer a reliable source for the Saudi economy and that other development sectors are underdeveloped because of the sole focus on oil. This is mainly because the oil-dependent economy is very unstable as it fluctuates around the oil prices.
Therefore, it is intended to increase investment in renewable energies, international investment, privatization of state-owned companies, and mainly tourism. However, making the country touristically attractive is difficult because due to the lack of religious freedom in this country, there are a number of restrictions that would make tourism a complicated goal due to restrictions for non-Muslims. Due to the strict interpretation of Islam in this country, Saudi Arabia is less attractive to tourists, especially women and members of the LGBTQ+ community. So, what the country has been trying to work on is loosening the restrictions on freedom of religion, for example, practicing religions other than Islam privately, creating tourist visas and introducing cultural events open to non-Muslims. These changes may not be major, but they do offer potential for improvement in the future. It is a matter of managing these changes carefully and gradually so that society does not feel them as a threat to its traditional values.
On the other hand, Donovan, Lu, and Schoellman (2022) argues that Saudi Arabia relies heavily on migrant workers, and this includes people from different religious backgrounds. Since the government is very strict with its religious policies, this may negatively impact the arrival of skilled and efficient workers, and as a result human capital and development are negatively affected. These migrant workers may feel reluctant to work in the country if they feel that their respective religions are not being respected or allowed, thus, there would be a lack of skilled workers which would affect the economic status of the country.
With respect to women in the labor field, in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, reforms were introduced to address the restrictions that women have in this society. This is due to the fact that religious norms influence the participation of women in work areas since they are supposed to fulfill different roles than men. The Saudi Vision 2030, therefore, encourages women to participate in the labor market and improve gender inclusion. These reforms are key to improving human capital and making Saudi Arabia a more sustainable country.
Human Security
Political and Economic Security
As said before in many countries and regions those who do not share the same beliefs as the norm are considered oppositors or traitors. Been cataloged in this positions in a country like Maldives where the practice of any religion other than Islam is prohibited and punished by being forced to pay a fine of up to 20,000 rufiyaa ($1,300), imprisonment for two to five years, or deportation for foreigners who practice other religions in public puts you in a very dangerous situation dangerous situation. The fact that political insecurity exists in relation to religion is in itself a disregard for human rights, especially freedom of expression. These expressions do not only encompass religion, aspects like clothing preferences, gender norms and even gender and sexuality are also silenced, criminalized and punished if they do not comply.
Religious freedom is also reflected in the economic sector of society. As well as being a woman may put in doubt your capacities for a job position, people from certain religions are also untrusted to be hired due to their beliefs, traditions and prejudices that are placed upon them and what they may entail. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 entitles all employees, regardless of religion, to provide reasonable religious accommodation by their employers. This means that a muslim employee should be provided with appropriate accommodations and sufficient time during the day to take their prayer breaks and that Judists also have the right to be allowed to celebrate their different holidays such as Shabbat, which takes place every Saturday without a sanction in their salary. Many employers may find hiring a person who requires adaptations like this as a bargain to the company and may prefer someone else, reinforcing the work gap that is already broad enough.
Trade in International Relations
In general, when a country wants to have good international relations, it must be attractive in this world and the level of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia creates the opposite image. Investors in foreign direct investment (FDI) typically consider socio-political factors such as human rights, and within, freedom of religion, before committing capital and the fact that this is a hotly debated issue in this country makes the investment deteriorate. Al-Khathlan (2023) explains that investors usually focus a lot on this as it can change their international image negatively as establishing relations with countries with no tolerance of religion is not a good look upon the public eye.
The monarchy of Saudi Arabia has a strong influence on trade relations. Countries that have a relatively good human rights image, such as Western countries, often restrict or sanction countries that they feel are violating these principles. Many of the trade relationships that Saudi Arabia maintains are with countries that share its perspective, however with the diversification of the economy, it would be good to have new allies in the market so that its exports and imports are more diverse and in greater quantity. It is key to balance religion with the need for diplomatic and economic relations, the economic and political realities require more openness and cooperation that the religious leadership and conservative sectors do not provide.
As a final remark, religious freedom is a fundamental human right that is rooted in tolerance and respect. Upholding it is not only a show of respect, tolerance, love and acceptance for society but also has several political and economical benefits as mentioned throughout the article. The implementation of it may have some bad response in some societies who still practice traditional or orthodox ways of religion but, as the world evolves it is important to evolve with it. By this we do not mean that some ways of religion should be canceled in any way as that will be contradictory to the article, but all should definitely integrate tolerance and respect for others.