Christian-Democratic Parties and Politics

Abstract

Christian-democratic parties sprang to prominence only after the second world war, but their ancestry goes back to the Catholic movements of the nineteenth century, when industrialization and constitutional government were becoming the characteristic features of modern Europe. Against this background, new forces began to emerge, partly as champions of the new labouring masses; and Christianity was obliged to adapt itself to a new social and political situation. The adaptation began in the social field. Christian social reform movements, particularly successful in rural areas, were slow to develop parallel political action. In general, the church hierarchy was wary of political participation in governments that had some of their roots in anti-clerical liberalism although the church's attitude varied with the history of each government's relations with the Vatican. Once a working relationship had been established with Rome, the church came to tolerate, if not to encourage, the rise of Catholic parties. Throughout the nineteenth century, however, when the Vatican was fighting its long rearguard action to retain diplomatic influence in international affairs, Catholic parties were suspected of being pawns in the power game or even agents of foreign interests: they lost popularity at home as nationalism gained ground. Only gradually did the church manage to establish a new relationship with the nation-states that was no longer dependent on support from political parties. Paradoxically, however, the conflict between church and state was one factor in the rise of Christian-democracy. The phrase itself has meant different things since it was first used over a century ago; but it is not found in either Great Britain or the United States precisely those countries where, in contrast to continental Europe, no long-standing church-state conflict now exists. Elsewhere, after the clash between the claims of the temporal