The religious origins of class coalitions : elite participation in religiously motivated peasant rebellions in Mexico, Zimbabwe, and India

摘要

This article explains why elite classes participate in religiously motivated peasant rebellions. This questionis important because, although elite resources are required to overcome collective action barriers, extantresearch ignores why elites collaborate in religiously motivated peasant rebellions. The article comparesthe Moplah Rebellion in colonial India, the Cristero Rebellion in revolutionary Mexico, and the ChimurengaRebellion in white-controlled Zimbabwe to test three common explanations for elite participation: lowinequality between elites and peasants; moderate political repression or opportunity; and shared religiousorganizations with the peasantry. The findings demonstrate that elite cooperation is critically contingenton shared religion because it creates cross-class ideologies and lowers the costs of participation by elites.However, the effects of inequality of wealth and political opportunities are inconclusive. By doing so, thearticle introduces a theory of elite participation that can be tested and refined to understand ongoingreligiously motivated rebellions in agrarian societies as disparate as Pakistan, Nigeria, and the Philippines.