Christian democracy
Christian democracy is a political ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.[1][2]
For other uses, see Christian democracy (disambiguation).
Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching[3][4] and neo-scholasticism,[5][6][7] as well as the Neo-Calvinist tradition within Christianity;[8][9] it later gained ground with Lutherans and Pentecostals,[nb 1] among other denominational traditions of Christianity in various parts of the world.[nb 2][11] During the nineteenth century, its principal concerns were to reconcile Catholicism with democracy,[6][7] to answer the "social question" surrounding capitalism and the working class,[12][13] and to resolve the tensions between church and state.[14][15] In the twentieth century, Christian democrats led postwar Western and Southern Europe in building modern welfare states and constructing the European Union.[16] Furthermore; in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, Christian democracy has gained support in Eastern Europe among former communist states suffering from corruption and stagnation.[17][18]
On the European left-right political spectrum, Christian democracy has been difficult to pinpoint, as Christian democrats have often rejected liberal economics and individualism and advocated state intervention, while simultaneously defending private property rights against excessive state intervention.[19] This has meant that Christian democracy has historically been considered centre-left on economics and centre-right on many social and moral issues.[20] More recently, Christian democrats have positioned themselves as the centre-right; as with both the European People's Party and European Christian Political Movement, with which many Christian democratic parties in Europe are affiliated.[21] Christian democrats support a "slightly regulated market economy", featuring an effective social security system,[22] thus a social market economy.[23]
Worldwide, many Christian democratic parties are members of the Centrist Democrat International. Examples of major Christian democratic parties include the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, the Dutch Christian Democratic Appeal, The Centre in Switzerland, the Spanish People's Party, the Mexican National Action Party, the Austrian People's Party, and the Christian Democratic Party of Chile.[24] Many Christian democratic parties in the Americas are affiliated with the Christian Democrat Organization of America.[25]
Christian democracy continues to be influential in Europe and Latin America, although it is also present in other parts of the world.[26]
Overview of political viewpoints[edit]
As a generalization, it can be said that Christian democratic parties in Europe tend to be moderately conservative and, in several cases, form the main conservative party in their respective countries (e.g., in Germany, Spain, Belgium, and Switzerland), such as the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland, the Christian Social Party, the Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland and the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland. By contrast, Christian democratic parties in Latin America tend to vary in their position on the political spectrum depending on the country they are in, being either more left-leaning,[27][28] as in the case of the Christian Democratic Party in Chile, or more right-leaning, as in the case of the National Action Party in Mexico. Geoffrey K. Roberts and Patricia Hogwood have noted that "Christian democracy has incorporated many of the views held by liberals, conservatives and socialists within a wider framework of moral and Christian principles."[29]
Christian democrats are usually socially conservative[30] and generally have a relatively skeptical stance towards abortion and same-sex marriage, although some Christian democratic parties have accepted the limited legalization of both. They advocate for a consistent life ethic concerning their opposition to capital punishment and assisted suicide.[31][32] Christian democrats have also supported the prohibition of drugs.[nb 3] Christian democratic parties are often likely to assert their country's Christian heritage and explicitly affirm Christian ethics rather than adopting a more liberal or secular stance;[nb 4] at the same time, Christian democratic parties enshrine confessional liberty.[36] Christian democracy fosters an "ecumenical unity achieved on the religious level against the atheism of the government in the Communist countries."[nb 5]
Christian democrats' views include traditional moral values (on marriage, abortion, prohibition of drugs, etc.),[38] opposition to secularization, opposition to state atheism, a view of the evolutionary (as opposed to revolutionary) development of society, an emphasis on law and order, and a rejection of communism.[37][10] Christian democrats are open to change (for example, in the structure of society) and not necessarily supportive of the social status quo, and have an emphasis on human rights and individual initiative. A rejection of secularism and an emphasis on the fact that the individual is part of a community and has duties towards it. Christian democrats hold that the various sectors of society (such as education, family, economy, and state) have autonomy and responsibility over their sphere, a concept known as sphere sovereignty.[39] One sphere ought not to dictate the obligations of another social entity; for example, the sphere of the state is not permitted to interfere with raising children, a role that belongs to the sphere of the family.[39] Within the sphere of government, Christian democrats maintain that civil issues should first be addressed at the lowest level of government before being examined at a higher level, a doctrine known as subsidiarity.[22] These concepts of sphere sovereignty and subsidiarity are considered cornerstones of Christian democracy political ideology.[40]
Christian democrats emphasize community, social justice, and solidarity, alongside supporting a welfare state, labor unions, and support for regulation of market forces.[41] Most European Christian democrats reject the concept of class struggle and instead prefer co-determination,[42][43] while US Christian democrats support a distributist economic system containing widespread distribution of productive property, in particular increased worker ownership (workplace democracy) and management (workers' self-management) of their production.[44][45][46]
The Christian democratic welfare state aims at supporting families and often relies on intermediary institutions to deliver social services and social insurance, often with the support of the state.[47]
Christian democrats support the principle of stewardship, which upholds the idea that humans should safeguard the planet for future generations of life.[22] Christian democrats also tend to have a conciliatory view concerning immigration.[48]
History[edit]
19th century[edit]
The origins of Christian democracy go back to the French Revolution, where initially, French republicanism and the Catholic Church were deeply hostile to one another as the revolutionary government had attacked the church, confiscated the church's lands, persecuted its priests, and attempted to establish a new religion around reason and the supreme being.[149] After the decades following the French Revolution, the Catholic Church saw the rise of liberalism as a threat to Catholic values. The rise of capitalism and the resulting industrialization and urbanization of society were seen to be destroying traditional communal and family life. According to the Catholic Church, liberal economics promoted selfishness and materialism with the liberal emphasis on individualism, tolerance, and free expression, enabling all kinds of self-indulgence and permissiveness to thrive.[149] Consequently, for much of the 19th century, the Catholic Church was hostile to democracy and liberalism.
This hostility to democracy and liberalism would be challenged by liberal Catholics who believed the alliance between the church and aristocracy was a barrier to the church's mission.[150] Initially, this group desired to reconcile the Catholics with the state of modern politics, getting Catholics involved in parties, public action, and parliamentarianism.[151] This, however, was not an endorsement of democracy, and the liberal Catholics maintained they did not adhere to liberalism.[152] Eventually, the movement's leading figures, such as Félicité de La Mennais, would become more accepting of democracy.[153] The group came to be associated with a desire for a free press, freedom of association and worship, and free education.[150][154]
Around this time, Catholic social thought developed, with social Catholic theologians and activists advocating the interests of workers in society. Some activists, such as Frédéric Ozanam, the Society of St Vincent de Paul founder, were more amenable to liberal democracy.[155] Ozanam criticized economic liberalism and the commodification of labor and argued that charity was insufficient to deal with these problems and that labor associations and state intervention were needed.[156] Italian Popular Party leader Luigi Sturzo credits Ozanam as the first Christian democrat.[157] One of the more influential theologians in Germany was Wilhelm von Ketteler, who encouraged Catholics to accept the modern state.[158] Ketteler argued for productive associations with profit sharing, Christian trade unions, and general workers' rights.[159]
In the 1870s, Catholic political movements arose independently of the Catholic Church to defend Catholic interests from the liberal states. In Europe, generally, the liberal states desired to wrestle control over the Catholic education system; however, in Germany and Italy, this was a direct attack against the church.[160] The Catholic political movements specifically opposed liberal secularism and state control of education; the parties that came out of these movements include the Centre Party (Germany), the Catholic Party (Belgium), various Catholic parties in the Netherlands, and the Christian Social Party (Austria). Initially, most of these parties accepted the anti-liberal beliefs of the Catholic Church at the time; many Catholics behind these movements believed all spheres of life should be regulated by religion.[161] These movements were initially built by ultramontanes,[162] were against the liberal view that church and state must be separated,[101] and used the term "Christian democracy" in opposition to liberal democracy.[16] The Centre Party in Germany seems to be an exception to this trend in that they defended the Catholic Church through an appeal to liberal freedoms and democracy. Additionally, the Centre Party, inspired by Ketteler, supported social legislation.[158][163]
Despite the thoroughly pro-Catholic position of these movements, the church itself resisted the movements, seeing them as a challenge to the church's control of the laity.[16] Over time, the impact of electoral politics on these parties pushed them to be more accepting of liberal democracy. To form effective political coalitions, these parties evolved from Catholic parties to parties inspired by Christianity and turned to voters, not the Catholic Church, for legitimacy.[164] During this time, the Catholic parties took an inter-class nature, such that they comprised trade unionists, landlords, industrialists, peasants, and artisans,[165] which academics have linked to the notion of popularism.[166]
Protestant confessional politics was more wide and varied. The most significant movement was in the Netherlands, where Reformed, neo-Calvinist Protestants founded the Anti-Revolutionary Party. Similarly to the Catholics, this party was formed out of similar concerns with liberal control of education.[167][168] The party was against the ideas of the French revolution,[167] and its founder, Abraham Kuyper, held that the government derived its authority from God, not from the people.[169] However, Kuyper and the Anti-Revolutionary Party did support organic democratic representation and promoted universal household suffrage.[170] In Germany, this element came from the Lutheran Adolf Stoecker, who established the Christian Social Party, and those who followed him. The Christian social movement aimed to challenge Marxist socialism, so Stoecker supported pro-worker economic policies to win over the working class. However, when this failed, Stoecker turned to anti-Semitism.[171] In Switzerland, Stoecker and his fellow allies generated some interest in Protestant political organization, but Protestants largely accepted the predominance of liberalism, so there was only minor growth of a Protestant political movement.[172]
Between Rerum novarum and World War II[edit]
The papacy of Pope Leo XIII was a turning point in the development of Christian democracy,[173] and he attempted to infuse democracy and liberalism with Catholic values.[174] In the papal encyclical Rerum novarum in 1891, Pope Leo XIII recognized workers' misery and argued for means to improve workers' conditions. He also attacked economic liberalism and condemned the rise of socialism, and generally encouraged a corporatist approach to labor relations.[175] Rerum novarum would provide Catholic labor movements with an intellectual platform and would coincide with the rise of Christian trade unions across Europe.[176][175] It was the catalyst for the beginning of Christian democracy in France,[177] Italy, and Austria.[178] The same year as the release of Rerum Novarum, Abraham Kuyper organized the Christian Social Congress alongside the Protestant workers' movement, where Kuyper outlined their social principles and policy. These actions reinforced the push for Christian social action in the Netherlands.[179] In Graves de communi re, the pope would protest against using Christian democracy as a political label, preferring it to describe a social movement.[178]
Some academics consider the Catholic political parties around this time to be essentially Catholic and not Christian democratic.[180][181] However, others consider the new Italian People's Party and the Popular Democratic Party (France) Christian democratic.[182][183] These parties advocated political liberties, religious liberties, economic reform, and social partnership, policies to support democracy and internationalism.[184][185] The Italian People's Party also advocated for regionalism and proportional representation.[186] At the beginning of the Weimar Republic, Adam Stegerwald attempted to reform the Centre Party into a Christian democratic party, uniting Catholics and Protestants.[187] In Belgium, the rising workers' movement came to form the increasingly powerful Christian democratic faction of the Catholic Party.[188] This period also saw other Catholic parties forming; Bavarian Catholics broke away and formed the Bavarian People's Party due to the Centre Party's participation in establishing the Weimar Republic.[189] In Switzerland, Catholics formed the Swiss Conservative People's Party, which, as a party, was divided between three competing demographics; rural Catholics who wanted greater regional independence, Catholic workers who wanted economic reform, and the more conservative groups who opposed democracy.[190] Overall, the party was held together by the Catholic faith and anti-socialist and anti-liberal tendencies.[191] In Ireland, Fianna Fáil was founded as a Catholic political party.[192] Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and Labor would all be avenues for Christian democracy in the post-war period.[193]
In the early 20th century, Protestant confessional politics developed further. In Weimar Germany, Stoecker's Christian social party joined the German National People's Party as its labor wing in 1918.[187] The Christian social parliamentarians from this party would then leave in 1929 to form the Christian Social People's Service (CSVD).[194] Protestant workers' movements in Switzerland gradually developed mutual aid funds into an independent trade union movement. Around this time, Swiss Protestants formed the Evangelical People's Party. The 1930s saw the rise of the Christian People's Party in Norway. It was built on the work of Pietist Lutherans, and the party was initially founded to defend the country's Christian heritage against the rise of secularization.[195] There was cooperation between the Protestant and Catholic parties during this period. The Catholic and Protestant parties would form joint governments in the Netherlands and Germany.[196][197] However, this cooperation did not challenge the underlying differences between the movements; in Germany, there was tension from cooperation with Protestants,[198] while in the Netherlands, the Anti-Revolutionaries would not support pro-Vatican policies.[197]
A significant factor that helped Christian democracy during this period was the lay Catholic Action movements. These organizations stress the apostolate of the laity, which is the role of everyday Catholics in spreading the faith.[199] In practice, these movements helped support the Christian trade unions and Christian democratic parties across Europe.[200] In Italy, Catholic Action supported the Italian Popular Party, and the rise of Mussolini would act as an anti-fascist force.[201] Catholic Action would later help the post-war Christian democracy.[202] Likewise, Catholic Action would work in the resistance in France and help found the MRP.[201]
In 1931, Pope Pius XI released the encyclical Quadragesimo anno, which was released on the 40th anniversary of Rerum novarum, and aimed to clarify the subsequent social doctrine of the church. The encyclical doubled down on the pronouncements of Rerum novarum on economic liberalism and socialism.[203] The attack against socialism was broadened to include moderate socialism,[204] and within the encyclical, the pope outlined a corporatist structure of society based on the notion of "subsidiarity".[205][206] However, the pope would stress the autonomy of this corporatist system to distinguish it from fascism.[207] This Quadragesimo Anno would come to influence the economic programs of Catholic parties of the time, such as the Popular Democratic Party,[208] and the Dutch Roman Catholic State Party,[209] alongside influencing Belgian Catholics.[210] The Centre Party, Christian Social Party, and Swiss Conservative People's Party already advocated corporatism based on economists such as Heinrich Pesch, Oswald von Nell-Breuning, and Karl von Vogelsang.[211] In Germany and Austria, Quadragesimo anno renewed the vigor for corporatism.[212] In Ireland, Political Catholics would pursue a policy of vocationalism taken directly from Quadragesimo anno. This vocationalism was most evident in the corporatist nature of the Irish upper house.[213]
Across Europe, the Catholic and Protestant parties faced the threat of fascism. Amidst the rise of Fascism in Italy, the Italian People's Party, under Stuzo, attempted to challenge Mussolini by forming a coalition with the socialist party.[214] Luigi Sturzo was ordered by the Catholic Church in 1923 to disband his Italian People's Party and exit politics.[215] Poor electoral performance in 1924 would make Sturzo give party leadership to Alcide De Gasperi and go into exile.[216][217] Once in power, the fascists disbanded the Italian People's Party. This would precede the signing of the Lateran Treaty between the Catholic Church and the Italian fascists in 1929.[218] The Centre Party and the CSVD would face the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany. Once the Nazis attained power in 1933, they attempted to take total power with the Enabling Act in 1923. Internally, the Centre Party was divided on the Enabling Act, but many became persuaded that Hitler would not eliminate the Reichstag.[219][220] Comparatively, the historical anti-Semitism of the Protestant Christian Social movement left the Christian Socials susceptible to Nazism. The Nazi Party would infiltrate the Protestant unions linked to CSVD in 1931.[221] Eventually, both parties would sign the Enabling Act, and both parties would summarily dissolve. In Austria, the Christian Socials would have already disbanded before Germany annexed Austria.[222] In Austria, a short civil war between authoritarians and social democrats would divide the Christian Socials, many of which would help build the authoritarian state. Outside of Italy, Germany and, Austria, many Catholic and Protestant parties would ultimately be dissolved when Nazi Germany invaded the rest of Europe in World War II. Many Christian democrats would assist in the resistance in France.[223]
The post-war period[edit]
After World War II, "both Protestant and Catholic political activists helped to restore democracy to war-torn Europe and extend it overseas".[5] Christian resistors were significant in establishing post-war Christian democracy movements in France,[224] Germany,[225] and Italy.[226] The collapse of fascism led to the discrediting of the radical right.[227] In Germany, conservatism was associated with reactionary and anti-democratic attitudes. The Christian democrats could claim to be untainted by fascism and thereby draw together conservative Catholics and bourgeois Protestants.[228] In both Germany and Italy, the Christian democratic parties encompassed former conservatives.[227] The Christian democratic parties dominated the post-war scene. In Italy, the new Christian Democratic Party led the coalition government under Alcide De Gasperi, and in France, the Popular Republican Movement became the largest party in parliament in 1946.[229] In Germany, France, and Italy, the Christian democratic parties helped establish their respective countries' constitutions. Between the 1940s and 1990s, Christian democratic parties were in power across western Europe; "In Germany they were in power for 36 years out of 50, in Italy for 47 years out of 52, in Belgium 47 years out of 53, and in Netherlands for 49 years of 53; even in France they were influential up to 1962".[230]
In the post-war period, Christian democratic parties became more conservative, partially in response to communism and secularism.[231] The Christian democrats also won the women's vote in their respective countries due to the pro-family policies of Christian democrats.[232] Christian democrats pursued decentralization policies during this time, encouraging regionalism in Germany, Italy, and Belgium. This was sought with increased favor as a result of experiencing fascism.[233] Christian democratic parties were also crucial in pushing for codeterminative works councils and workers on boards during this time.[42][43] Despite this initial power, cracks started to appear; Christian democracy in France declined substantially, as Popular Republican Movement and its successors quickly fell apart.[234] French Christian democrats would ultimately become subsumed into Gaullist parties.
Similarly, minor Christian democratic parties such as the People's Democratic Party (PDP) would rise in post-Franco Spain. However, these movements were too divided and lacked the political necessity of religious cleavages to play a dominant role in Spanish democracy. These Christian democratic parties would fail, and the Christian democrats would join the Spanish Popular Party.[235]
Protestant Christian democracy developed in multifaceted ways in the post-war period. In Germany, it arose amongst the Lutheran ordoliberals. These Lutherans looked to Christian theologians such as Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer to path a way that obeyed worldly authority but also challenged the Nazi regime.[236][237] The core of the ordoliberal ideology was a strong state that enabled market competition.[238] During the war, the ordoliberals worked with Bonhoeffer to develop a political and socio-economic plan for the post-war period,[239] and after the war, they joined with Catholics to form the Christian Democratic Union.[240] The ordoliberals termed their vision a "social market economy",[241] a vision the Catholics would also come to champion.[242] In Sweden, it arose amongst the Pentecostals, where it coalesced in the Christian Democrats, founded in 1964 as a reaction to secularization.[10][243] The Finnish Christian Democrats, formed in 1957, and the Danish Christian People's Party, formed in 1970, defended Christian schooling and dissented against secular trends such as atheism and liberal abortion policies.[244] The Nordic Christian democratic parties did not represent the Lutheran state church but non-conformist Christians and lay activists within the Lutheran state church.[245] In the Netherlands, the Protestant Anti-Revolutionary Party and Christian Historical Union joined the Catholic People's Party to form Christian Democratic Appeal.[89]
European Christian democrats were a significant force in the creation of the European Union. At the beginning of the European project, three significant men were Konrad Adenauer, Robert Schuman, and Alcide De Gasperi, all Christian democrats.[246] When the Rome Treaty was signed, Christian democrats were the leading governments in four of the six countries, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and were a part of the coalition government in the Netherlands at the time.[246] At least until the mid-1980s, social democrats were hostile to the institutions of the European Communities – even in the 1970s, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme called the European Commission "conservative", "capitalist", "clerical", and "colonialist".[247] Indeed, the European Union has the ideas of subsidiarity and personalism embedded within it.[248] The influence of Christian democracy on the European Union is such that one academic has called the European Union a "Christian democracy".[249] Alongside the European Union was the development of European Christian democratic parties. This appeared in the 1940s with the Nouvelles Equipes Internationales,[250] which would evolve into the European Union of Christian Democrats in 1965,[251] and, finally, the European People's Party in 1976.[252]
21st century[edit]
Christian democratic parties no longer have as much power in European politics.[253] Indeed, in Italy, the Christian democratic party collapsed.[254] The reasons for the decline in Christian democracy are multifaceted, partly due to European secularization and the loss of a voting base.[255] The death of communism and the rise of neo-liberalism have also dented the movement, and the financial crisis has also shown flaws in Christian democratic welfare.[255] Furthermore, immigration and the rise of populism have further put pressure on Christian democracy, as it is torn between the right's call for restrictions, the businesses' call for an open labor market, and the religious call for more charity to immigrants.[255]
Some Christian democratic parties, particularly in Europe, no longer emphasize religion and have become much more secular in recent years.[256][257] Recently, many minor Christian democratic parties, such as the Christian Union, and others across Europe, did not feel represented in the existing political establishment, so they formed a political organization in the European Christian Political Movement.[258] These parties stressed the Christian history of Europe alongside advocating for traditional Christian values and economic and environmental justice.[259]
Many Muslim parties in Muslim countries have looked to the Christian democratic tradition for inspiration. The most notable is Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (usually known by the Turkish acronym AKP, for Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi), which is Islamic and has moved towards the tradition.[260] However, this link is questioned, given that AKP's movement toward Christian democracy may be to curry the favor of European parties in European integration, something the European Christian democrats ultimately shot down.[261] Other Islamic groups that have been linked include the Democratic League of Kosovo[262] and Mohammad Morsi in Egypt.[263] Some Muslim democratic parties embraced by Christian democrats are the National Awakening Party (Indonesia) and the Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats (Philippines), who have joined the Centrist Democrat International.