Religion and Political Development in Nineteenth-Century Holland*

Abstract

The contemporary study of state building and political development remains caught in the grip of the Enlightenment bias that societal differentiation and political modernization go hand in hand with the decline of religious influence in social life. In other words, the bias dictates that modernization and secularization always travel together. Political scientists have been influenced deeply by Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, David Apter, and especially Gabriel Almond who have systematically applied that bias to the study of political development. But while much light has been shed on political development, that bias has also operated to distort aspects of political modernization, at least in Europe. One important reason, though not the only one, for studying political modernization in nineteenth-century Holland is that it challenges the hypothesis (or bias) that modernization and secularization always go hand in hand. In fact, careful study of Christian Democratic movements throughout Europe would reveal that much has been overlooked or misinterpreted by political scientists who have depended uncritically upon the secularization/modernization hypothesis.' The purpose of this article is not to generalize about Christian Democracy, but to consider the specific connection between a reviving Christianity (especially, but not exclusively, Protestant Calvinism) and political modernization in nineteenthcentury Holland.