Christian democracy in post‐war Europe: Conservatism writ‐large or distinctive political phenomenon?

Abstract

Christian Democracy has been a major political force in Western Europe since the war, after which it emerged in dramatic fashion to fill the vacuum left by the totalitarian movements. However, Christian Democracy is not simply a synonym for Conservatism. Rather it has distinctive characteristics of its own, but these do not amount to a Weltanschauung, and Christian Democracy is too diverse socially and politically to merit the epithet ‘movement’. The author discusses the reasons for the decline of Christian Democracy in the 1960s, and then assesses the Christian Democratic revival of the 1970s, reviewing the problems faced by the Christian Democrats transnationally and domestically. He concludes that whilst the Christian Democratic parties remain powerful in many individual European countries, Christian Democracy as a transitional force in the European Community remains an unknown quantity owing to its political diversity.

Notes

Lecturer in the Department of Politics, University of Edinburgh. This article owes a certain amount to the Introduction and Conclusion of the author's forthcoming book, The Christian Democratic Parties of Western Europe to be published by Allen and Unwin for the Royal Institute of International Affairs in 1979.