Christian democracy was principally a post-Second World War political movement, typified by the Christian democrat parties of Italy, Germany and the French Fourth Republic. Christian democratic parties also emerged in Latin America and, more recently, in Eastern Europe—both regions where democracy is less well established, but where religious influence remains strong. Traditional democrat parties are similar in most ways to moderate—conservative parties, such as those of Britain and the Old Commonwealth. They are likely to stand for a moderate social liberalism, a mixed economy, an acceptance that there should be basic social welfare provisions, and some degree of commitment to full employment through government economic policies. The adjective ‘Christian’ now often has little religious significance but derives from historical factors, notably the emergence of these parties in France and Italy from Second World War religious resistance movements linked with the Church.
The Italian Christian Democrats were partial exceptions to this statement since they were always closely associated with the Catholic Church in Italy. Opposition to the Eurocommunist parties was a mainstay of these parties, and Catholic opposition to communism gave the ‘Christian’ label a certain utility. The word ‘Democracy’serves to identify the parties concerned as being dedicated to the general interest, rather than those of an aristocracy or élite like most pre-war conservative parties. The decline in the importance of religion as a politically motivating factor throughout Europe is progressively reducing the appeal of Christian democracy per se, but by now many of the leading parties have become so entrenched that they are unlikely to suffer much electoral damage. The obvious exception to this is the Italian Christian Democrats, who have completely collapsed—but this has more to do with the Italian reaction to decades of corruption than to the mere decline of religiosity. At the same time religion, where it is politically important, has come to be much more firmly oriented to specific moral issues such as abortion, further reducing the broad reach of a religious identity, and therefore its electoral utility.
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