Author: King’asia Mamati

For our Researcher of the Month feature, we spoke with new AASR member Dr. Jeffrey Haynes about his long academic journey. Below is the conversation.

1. Please tell us about your academic journey and the areas you focus on in your research.

Dr Jeffrey Haynes is emeritus professor of politics at London Metropolitan University, UK. His areas of expertise are religion and international relations, religion and politics, democracy and democratisation. He is co-editor-in-chief of Democratization, a Q1 comparative politics journal published eight times a year by Taylor & Francis and series editor of a book series for Routledge, Routledge Studies in Religion and Politics, which has published 54 books since the series began in 2011.Jeffrey Haynes is the author or editor of 65 books, most recently: The Routledge Handbook of Religion & Nationalism (ed.), Routledge, 2025; Christian Nationalism and Democracy in Ghana, Routledge, 2025; Religion & Politics: The Basics, Routledge, 2025; Ghana: 50 Years of Political Change, Digibooks, 2025; The Routledge Handbook of Politics and Religion in Contemporary America (ed.), Routledge, 2025; The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics (3rd ed.), Routledge, 2023; and Revolution and Democracy in Ghana: The Politics of Jerry John Rawlings, Routledge, 2023

• Tell us a little bit more about your recently published work.

After many years focusing on other topics, in 2022 I began researching into the issue of Christian nationalism and democracy in Ghana, a country about which I wrote my PhD many years ago, in 1988, with the title: [Jerry] Rawlings and the Politics of Development Policy in Ghana, 1979-86. My just-published research monograph, Christian Nationalism and Democracy in Ghana (Routledge, 2025) investigates the impact of Christian nationalism on democracy in Ghana, arguing that proponents of a specific Christian worldview seek to remake the country according to their values and beliefs.

Christian nationalism is a significant religious and political ideology in several African countries, not only Ghana, but also, among others, Zambia and Nigeria. In Ghana, prominent Christian nationalists, encouraged by sections of the American Christian Right, cultivate political influence with powerful political elites and by developing a high media profile to promote their views and increase their numbers of followers. The book examines specific examples of Christian nationalism’s impact on Ghana’s democracy: the national cathedral as a symbol of national unity and social cohesion, anti-Muslim pronouncements threatening inter-faith harmony, and attacks on Ghana’s LGBTQ+ community. Overall, the book argues that Christian nationalism is a specific threat to Ghana’s three decade-long liberal democracy, with the aim of undermining the constitutional equality and human rights of some Ghanaians in favour of a specific Christian worldview.

The main argument of the book is that in Ghana Christian nationalism has significant political influence, impacting on the country’s liberal democracy, human rights, and inter-faith relations. The objective of the book is to identify and examine Christian nationalism’s political and religious significance and assess its impact in one of Africa’s few consistent liberal democracies, a status Ghana has enjoyed for more than three decades, following the return to democracy in 1992 after a decade of undemocratic military-based rule.

• In what ways do you think your research addresses pressing societal challenges?

My current research addresses a pressing societal challenge, not only in Ghana, but more generally in sub-Saharan Africa, that is, how to co-exist in a religiously plural country buffeted by the ups and downs of globalisation.

Ghana is a religiously plural country, one of sub-Saharan Africa’s few liberal democracies. Ghana has been a liberal democracy since the early 1990s, following a decade of military-based rule. The current (1992) constitution, proclaims religious freedom in Ghana, with no religion officially favoured. There is considerable overlap between religious and other spheres of life in Ghana, and many religious actors are politically active.

Ghana is a Christian-majority country. The most recent census, in 2021, reported that 71.3% of Ghanaians are Christian. Muslims comprise 19.9% of the population, and followers of African Traditional Religions (ATRs) amount to just under 5%. Both Christianity and Islam have seen significant demographic growth in recent decades.

Many African countries have seen a strong advance of Pentecostal-Charismatic churches in recent decades. Although there is huge variety among these churches, what they have in common is the desire to be publicly influential. They seek to change the norms and values of their societies to fit more clearly into their religious framework. The key societal challenge they pose is: how can a diversity of views be accommodated in religiously plural countries in sub-Saharan Africa?

• How do you see your career/research develop and evolve in the near future?

I am emeritus professor, having retired slightly early in 2017. This freed me up to pursue research, to write and to publish. I am currently researching/writing a research monograph with the working title, Pentecostalisation, Politics and Development in Ghana, which will be completed a year from now, in June 2026.  I am about to sign a contract for the book with a UK-based publisher in a suitable book series.

• From your wealth of experience, what advice would you give to your younger self?

Don’t give up. Set goals and stick to them. Don’t be put off by short term failure or obstacles. Regarding research, follow your heart not your head. That is, pursue research which interests you – not that which might win you hefty research grants but is not fulfilling.

• What role has the AASR played in your career growth?

I am a newcomer to AASR, turning to the study of religion and politics in sub-Saharan Africa after many years writing about politics and political development in Ghana, as well as religion and international relations, and democracy and development in the global south, including sub-Saharan Africa.

AASR is a focus of my research interests and I hope soon to publish in the AASR flagship journal,Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and its Diaspora.

• Tell us the challenge(s) you encountered in your career and how you surmounted them. What lessons did you learn?

As I rose through the ranks at London Metropolitan University, from senior lecturer (associate professor) to reader (associate research professor) to full professor, I learned that managers may say they value research but at the same time they expect senior members of staff also to be managers, administrators, attend lots of committee meetings, teach – and write ‘ground-breaking’ research articles and monographs. I ended up as Dean for Research in a large faculty of around 200 people. I spent most of my time ‘managing’ colleagues – an interesting but fraught job – with many asking for more research time and less teaching! The biggest challenge for me was to maintain a ‘healthy’ research schedule and output while spending 80%+ plus of my time in management, attending committee meetings, administration and teaching.

Regarding lesson learned, I’ll repeat what I wrote for question 5: Don’t give up. Set goals and stick to them. Don’t be put off by short term failure or obstacles. Regarding research, follow your heart not your head. That is, pursue research which interests you – not that which might win you hefty research grants but is not fulfilling.

Recent photograph: attached.