Foreign Christian Influence in Developing World Domestic Social Policy

There is a debate going on in the United States today about where our culture is headed. In the United States and much of the West, society is becoming more liberal on issues such as gay rights and abortion. In countries of the developing in Africa and Latin America there has also been a debate about these issues. This is in part fueled by Christian groups coming from outside of the countries of the developing world who are attempting to export the Culture Wars of the West to the developing world. This paper theorizes that foreign Christian groups have a more difficult time influencing social policy, specifically gay rights and abortion policy, in developing countries that possess higher state capacity. Conversely these same groups have an easier time influencing policy in developing countries with a lower level of state capacity. This work will look at countries in the developing world from Latin America and Africa which have become battlegrounds in the exported Culture Wars. I find that foreign Christian groups do have an easier time influencing social policy in developing countries with lower state capacity and a more difficult time influencing social policy in developing countries with a higher level of state capacity. This is important for the field of Political Science in that it increases our knowledge of non-governmental organizations.