12035 Christian Democracy: Parties, Ideologues, Constituency and Religion in Europe 1
Credits: 3 graduate credits in Democracy Studies / History of Democracy or History, Education and Citizenship
Prerequisites: Democracy: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Israeli Democracy: Selected Issues, Contemporary Democratic Theories; one of the following: Democracy and Democratization, Selected Problems in the History of Western Democracies, Education Policy: Education for Democracy in Democratic Societies, Democracy and Mass Communication,2 Selected Topics in Public Administration; and exemption from bibliographic assignments on computer searches in the “Alef” catalog and databases.
Author: Denis Charbit
The course deals with the historical, political and ideological aspects of Christian Democracy in Western Europe from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day. Until the political and social changes caused by the French Revolution and then utopian and scientific socialism, European churches endorsed monarchic regimes that espoused inequality. The Christian Democratic approach called for adherence to the validity and necessity of religious values in the face of the challenges of modernity; however, accompanied by openness to democratic values and a willingness to refresh and update religious values in the spirit of the times. The accepted claim that there was an unbridgeable gap between religious belief and democracy was replaced by a new outlook that identified sufficient common foundations and purposes that could be merged under the banner of Christian Democracy.
The course begins with a focus on the historical circumstances surrounding the growth of Christian-Democratic thought. It then surveys the successes achieved by Christian Democracy in the political arena after WWII, becoming the dominant political party in Germany, Holland and Italy, and its failure to strike lasting roots in France. The course also presents the main ideological outlooks and policy solutions posed by Christian-Democratic parties in order to shape their political identity between the social-democratic and the conservative approaches. Finally, the course examines the historical contribution of Christian Democracy both in forging the idea of European unification and in fortifying democracy.
Topics: The history of Christian-democracy: The beginnings of the Christian-democratic idea; Flourishing after WWII: Germany, Italy, France, Holland and Belgium; The political sociology of Christian-Democracy: Political parties, social movements, youth movements and labor unions; Christian-Democratic political thought: The conception of man, society, property, education, the state and religion.
1Students may write a seminar paper in this course, although it is not required.
2or Liberalism: Texts, Contexts, Critiques (12005), for students who took it as a required course in the Culture specialization before Spring 2010.