CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY.

Christian Democracy has a good claim to be considered the most successful and one of the most durable and influential political forces in twentieth-century Europe. From the 1890s to the 1990s, parties claiming a primarily Christian inspiration for their political actions garnered mass support in elections and occupied positions of power in municipal, regional, and national governments. This success was all the more remarkable given the strong downward trend in religious practice in many (although not all) areas of Europe during much of the twentieth century. Despite social and cultural secularization, Christian Democratic parties were highly adept at winning support for their distinctive political message of moderate democracy, social justice, and Christian morality. This was particularly so in the predominantly Catholic areas of central Europe. Although Christian Democratic parties emerged almost everywhere in Europe, from Poland and the Baltic States in the east to Spain and Portugal in the southwest, their heartland always lay in a band of territories stretching from the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands) in the north through western Germany and eastern France to Austria, Switzerland, and northeastern Italy. In these areas, Christian parties in their various permutations were, for much of the twentieth century, the dominant political force and exerted a formative influence over the structures of state and society.

DEFINITION

It is not easy to define who exactly was or was not a Christian Democrat during the twentieth century. Historians and political scientists, and especially those who are sympathetic to Christian Democracy, have a tendency to incorporate all broadly progressive Christian political movements into a Christian Democratic tradition—a tradition that reached its apogee in the powerful Christian Democratic parties that dominated the politics of many Western European states for roughly twenty-five years after the end of the World War II (1945). Such an interpretation, however, risks neglecting the diversity that existed within Christian politics in twentieth-century Europe.

Not all Christian political parties can accurately be described as democratic. Indeed, many, especially in the first half of the century, were explicitly antidemocratic in their inspiration and political ideology. Moreover, the durable confessional fault line between Catholicism and the various Protestant churches of Europe was reflected in differing patterns of political engagement. Especially after 1945, Christian Democratic parties in mixed Catholic and Protestant states, such as Germany, made much of their openness to Christians of all denominations, but Christian Democracy was always a primarily Catholic movement. The connection between Christian belief and political commitment was more individual and less automatic in the Protestant churches than in the more hierarchical and unitary structures of Catholicism. Religious practice remained high in some largely Protestant societies, notably in Scandinavia, and Protestant churches, such as the Anglican Church in the United Kingdom, often occupied a privileged position in state and society, but in none of these largely Protestant states did Christian Democratic parties become a major political force.

ORIGINS

It is more accurate to regard Christian Democracy as a particular form of Catholic political engagement that, although initially only a minority presence in Catholic ranks, came strongly to the fore after 1945. Its origins lay in the Catholic milieu of late-nineteenth-century Europe. The term Christian Democrat first came to be used by Catholic social and spiritual organizations in Belgium, France, and Germany in the 1880s and 1890s, for whom the word democrat represented not a commitment to democracy but a wish to reach out to the ordinary people often neglected by middle- and upper-class Catholic organizations. Their ambitions were more social than political. Inspired by the encyclicals, or public statements, issued by the popes, such as "Rerum Novarum" (New kingdom), published by Leo XIII in 1891, these activists, many of whom came from privileged backgrounds, sought to alleviate the material sufferings of the poor, especially in the new urban and industrial centers.

These paternalist forms of charity went together, however, with an emerging vision of a new social and economic order in which the competitive individualism and secularism of liberal capitalist society would be replaced by Catholic values of harmony and cooperation. Thus, before 1914, Christian Democrats began to develop organizations such as cooperatives, agricultural syndicates, and trade unions, within which a new generation of Christian Democratic workers, small-scale farmers, and white-collar employees was formed. Tentatively at first, their ambitions became more political. Christian Democratic trade unions competed with their larger socialist rivals for the support of workers, and Christian Democratic activists made their entry into Catholic political parties such as the Zentrumspartei (Center Party) in Germany and the Catholic Party in Belgium, which had emerged in the late nineteenth century to defend Catholic interests in local and national politics. Christian Democracy was, however, only a minority current in pre-1914 European Catholic politics. The German and Belgian parties, as well as the Christlich-Soziale Partei (Christian Social Party) in Austria, continued to be dominated by a middle-class elite and committed to the protection of the Catholic Church's institutional interests.

This largely remained the case during the interwar years. The democratic reforms enacted in many European states after World War I, such as the establishment of the Weimar Republic in Germany, created a more favorable environment for Christian Democracy. Membership in Christian trade unions increased rapidly, notably in Germany, Italy, and France, and the established Catholic parties were obliged to open their ranks more fully to Christian Democrats in order to reach out to a mass electorate. The dominant trend in Catholic politics during the interwar years was, however, away from the practical and incremental economic and social reforms favored by Christian Democrats. Instead, many Catholics were drawn toward the more militant rhetoric of spiritual reconquest favored by the papacy or toward ideologies of the extreme Right. In Italy, the short-lived progressive Catholic party, the Partito Popolare Italiano (Italian Popular Party), was swept away by the Fascist seizure of power in 1922, and in Spain the Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-Wing Groups), the principal Catholic political party during the Second Republic (1931–1936), collapsed in the turmoil of the Civil War (1936–1939), during which many Catholics supported the Nationalist forces led by General Franco. In Germany, the Nazi Party won a lower proportion of the votes in Catholic areas of Germany, and along with most Catholic political organizations Christian Democrats opposed the militantly nationalist and populist tone of Nazi electoral rhetoric. But with Hitler's accession to power in January 1933 and the subsequent concordat between the Nazi regime and the papacy in July 1933, Christian Democratic groups were obliged to either disband or continue their activities discreetly within the institutions of the Catholic Church.

HEYDAY

Giventhishistory, it is at first sight surprising that Christian Democratic parties should have emerged so powerfully onto the European political stage after 1945. In Italy, the new Catholic party, Democrazia Cristiana (Christian Democracy), won an impressive 35 percent of the vote in the first postwar elections (1946), and the party's initial leader, Alcide De Gasperi, was prime minister of the new Italian state until 1953. In Belgium and the Netherlands, the Christelijke Volkspartij–Parti Social Chrétien and Katholieke Volkspartij, respectively, rapidly became major parties in the postwar political system, as did the Österreichische Volkspartei in Austria. Perhaps most dramatic was the success of the Christian Democratic parties in France and Germany. In France, where political polarization between supporters and opponents of the republic had hitherto hindered the development of an autonomous Christian Democratic politics, the Mouvement Républicain Populaire (MRP), established in 1944 by Christian Democratic activists, won 28 percent of the vote in the 1946 elections, making it the principal electoral rival to the Communist Party. In Germany, the Catholic Church was one of the few remaining social organizations after the final collapse of Nazism. Christian Democratic politicians established a new party, the Christlich-Demokratische Union (Christian Democrat Union, CDU), in 1945, which with its sister party, the Christlich-Soziale Union (Christian Social Union, CSU) in Bavaria, became the leading political force in the new Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany, created in 1949). The CDU and CSU dominated West German politics in the 1950s and 1960s, and the Catholic leader of the CDU, Konrad Adenauer, became the first chancellor of the new German state.

The emergence of Christian Democracy after 1945 was largely due to changes within Catholic political ranks. The engagement of many Catholic political groups with the extreme Right during the 1920s and 1930s left the way open for a new generation of Christian Democratic activists to come to the fore. These were predominantly younger people, often from intellectual backgrounds, who had been formed in the Catholic spiritual and social organizations that had proliferated in the interwar years. Some had been active in the Resistance against German occupation during the war, and most shared a strong belief in the need to create a modern, Christian-inspired politics that accepted the defining framework of parliamentary democracy. This new mood of openness was accompanied, however, by more traditional Catholic mentalities. Fear of communism—both of the Soviet Union and of the national Communist parties—had been intensified by the events of the war years, prompting a mentality of Catholic solidarity against the threat of communist rule or of a popular front of socialist and liberal anticlerical forces. Another element of Christian Democracy's appeal was that many of the traditional right-wing parties had been discredited by fascism and the center-right ideology of the Christian Democratic parties appealed to many electors who no longer had a political home. The Christian Democratic parties therefore skillfully combined appeals to Christian unity with a strong rhetoric of anticommunism and policies designed to appeal to social groups such as farmers and the middle classes that had formerly tended to vote for the political right.

This formula was a successful one. By the end of the 1950s, it was possible to speak of Christian Democratic dominance in the politics of Western Europe. With the notable exception of France, where the MRP declined rapidly during the 1950s, Christian Democratic parties were a major governmental force in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It is perhaps no accident that, apart from Austria and Switzerland, these states were also signatories of the Treaty of Rome (1957), which established the European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC's moderate parliamentary democracy and economic free market combined with substantial welfare provisions and economic protection for the professions and agricultural producers bore the imprint of its Christian Democratic founders. Thus, although the leaders of the Christian Democratic parties remained careful to emphasize their commitment to a Christian social and political ideal, they were by the 1960s increasingly secular parties of the center-right, drawing their support from rural and small-town Europe as well as from the middle classes and from technical and white-collar employees who had benefited from the high levels of postwar economic growth.

DECLINE AND TRANSFORMATION

By the end of the 1960s, Christian Democratic parties were on the wane. Social Democratic parties were competing effectively for elements of their electorate, and the profound changes in the character of Catholicism initiated by the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) eroded the close connection between religious practice and political commitment. Many Christian trade unions broke away from the parties, and Catholic militants engaged in the new forms of social protest that swept across Europe during the late 1960s and early 1970s. In Italy, Democrazia Cristiana remained a powerful bulwark against the threat of a Communist electoral victory, but elsewhere the 1970s was an era of marked decline for Christian Democratic parties. The unity of purpose and the mentality derived from a Christian identity that they had once built on were no longer as powerful and Christian Democratic parties were obliged to find new identities and ways of winning electoral support.

They did so with varying degrees of success. In Italy, Democrazia Cristiana effectively disappeared in the realignment of political forces that took place in the 1990s. But in Germany, and to a lesser degree in Belgium and the Netherlands, the Christian Democrats proved to be much more resilient. Under the long chancellorship of Helmut Kohl (1982 to 1998), the CDU and CSU once again dominated the government and they presided over the reunification of the country after the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). As Kohl's success demonstrated, however, the power of Christian Democracy depended on maintaining the support of those middle-class and rural voters who had long formed the core of its supporters, as well as on emphasizing such themes as prudent economic management and the construction of a united Europe, which could win over less committed voters. In this way, Christian Democratic parties were able to live on, even when the distinctive political and social ideology that had given rise to Christian Democracy had largely come to an end.

See alsoAdenauer, Konrad; Catholicism; Common Agricultural Policy; Resistance; Vatican II.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Buchanan, Tom, and Martin Conway, eds. Political Catholicism in Europe, 1918–1965. Oxford, U.K., 1996. A collection of essays on the development of Catholic politics from the World War I onward, organized by nation.

Conway, Martin. Catholic Politics in Europe, 1918–1945. New York and London, 1997. A study of the interwar evolution of Catholic politics.

Gehler, Michael, and Wolfram Kaiser, eds. Christian Democracy in Europe since 1945. London, 2004. The foremost single-volume study of Christian Democracy in its post-1945 heyday.

Kalyvas, Stathis. The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe. Ithaca, N.Y., and London, 1996. An important account of the emergence of Christian Democracy.

Kselman, Thomas, and Joseph A. Buttigieg, eds. European

Christian Democracy: Historical Legacies and Comparative Perspectives. Notre Dame, Ind., 2003. A series of analytical and reflective essays on the Christian Democrat phenomenon.

Lamberts, Emiel, eds. Christian Democracy in the European Union, 1945/1995: Proceedings of the Leuven Colloquium, 15–18 November, 1995. Leuven, Belgium, 1997. A comprehensive collection of informative essays on Christian Democrat parties, paying particular attention to their role in the European Union.

Van Hecke, Steven, and Emmanuel Gerard, eds. Christian Democratic Parties in Europe since the End of the Cold War. Leuven, Belgium, 2004. A collection of essays on the evolution of Christian Democracy at the end of the twentieth century.

Warner, Carolyn M. Confessions of an Interest Group. The Catholic Church and Political Parties in Europe. Princeton, N.J., 2000. An analysis of the political strategies of the Catholic Church and its connection with Christian Democracy.

Martin Conway