The Bible, the moral principles of the Gospel, and Christian ethics became the value sources on which the postwar Christian democracy was formed. Also, the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, whose influence on Christian democrats has significantly diminished since the mid-twentieth century, made a great contribution to the emergence of the first worldview concepts of Christian democracy. Today, as a comprehensive and complete worldview doctrine and ideological system, Christian democracy has formed its own system of principles that is different from other ideologies and that define the essence and social orientation of Christian democratic political forces .
Among the main principles of Christian democracy are the following:
Personalism. Christian democracy views a person as a person – an individual with certain social responsibilities. In contrast to liberal ideology, where the greatest degree of freedom is possessed exclusively by the individual, in the Christian democratic concept, personalism connects a person with his or her environment (family, group). In Christian democracy, a person is perceived as a value-based individual for whom the priority is to protect and implement moral values. The philosophical principle of personalism lays the foundation for such an understanding of freedom, which allows one to make choices but also to bear responsibility for them. A person can feel free only within his or her environment, to which he or she must show respect and confirm the right to belong.
Responsibility. Christian democrats believe that since a person is a person in a particular environment, he or she is responsible for its preservation and development. Responsibility implies the priority of the common good, for the sake of which, sometimes, it is worth sacrificing one’s own ambitions and sometimes even freedom. Building a harmonious society is possible only if its members are socially responsible. This responsibility involves various aspects, including the government’s responsibility to society, responsibility to future generations, and responsibility for one’s neighbor.
Subsidiarity. The principle of subsidiarity is considered a kind of “invention” of Christian democracy, as it is unique among the sets of political principles of parties of other ideological orientations. The idea of subsidiarity is a key component of Christian social ethics. The term itself comes from the Latin subsidium (meaning “reserve,” “substitute”). The etymological roots of the term mean that smaller units of society, including families, communities, and municipalities, are the primary and independent actors in social life. The principle of subsidiarity defines the role of the state as subordinate to the smaller units of society and consists of the following two components: “private above the state” and “small above the big”. Subsidiarity implies that the state should not interfere in the affairs of local communities without asking for such assistance. It is about protecting an individual or a local community from the tutelage of higher state institutions. Christian democrats are convinced that at the local or regional level, citizens have a better understanding of the situation and existing problems and are better able to solve their problems than the state can.
“The sweet poison of the welfare state, the state that takes care of everything and wants to remove all life risks from its citizens, if possible, paralyzes the will to freedom of society,” says German politician and economist Norbert Neuhaus. Therefore, Christian democracy denies centralized government, which should be limited to exclusive areas. Subsidiarity does not exclude the possibility of providing state aid when a lower-level community that is unable to solve its problems asks for help. However, Christian Democrats clearly distinguish between aid and intervention. The principle of subsidiarity professed by Christian democrats, as the idea of decentralization of state power as much as possible, often correlates with the ideas of broad autonomy and federalism of local communities, and European Christian democrats are often federalists.
Christian democracy in politics is based on communities, because it is in the community that the opinion and voice of the individual is important and heard. Self-sufficient and strong communities are the foundation of society and are able to create a strong and successful state. Therefore, Christian democrats support decentralization and are always opposed to ethatism, because the state does not exist for itself, but for its citizens and should help create conditions for each person to develop harmoniously. Today, the principle of subsidiarity is one of the basic principles of the European Union and is enshrined in the EU Treaty, which once again confirms the significant contribution that Christian democrats have made to the development of the European community.
Solidarity. One of the truths of Christianity is “mercy” and this is the basis for one of the most important principles of solidarity in a Christian democracy. Solidarity, or as it used to be called, “brotherhood,” means mutual assistance and understanding among members of a society or community. For Christian democrats, cooperation and solidarity are prerequisites for achieving the common good and peace. Solidarity is defined by Christian democrats as the main means of combating injustice and inequality and can be expressed in the short “Musketeer” motto “One for all and all for one.” Thanks to the introduction of the principle of social solidarity in the twentieth century, social guarantees for the general population in Europe have significantly improved: pension insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, and social assistance systems have been introduced.
Solidarity as a political principle is inherent in many other competing ideologies, including social democrats and communists. However, in the communist version, solidarity is understood as the unity of the working class and the ruling party in the class struggle with other social groups. The Christian democratic interpretation of solidarity, on the other hand, is much more humanistic and embraces all social groups in society, both rich and poor, and in a globalized world, other peoples and nations.
Christian democracy, unlike social democracy and communism, does not emphasize class differences in society, believing that a worldview in class categories only hinders rather than promotes social integration. In addition, Christian democrats differ from conservatives, who are more inclined to value and economic individualism, by the presence of the principle of solidarity. The ideology of Christian democracy, while sharing common views with conservatives on church, family, private property, anti-communism, and limiting the role of the state, is convinced that only the establishment of solidarity that covers all social strata, including the solidarity of the rich with the poor, will make it possible to fully develop society and improve social conditions without excessive idealization of capitalism.
Even Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical Rerum Novarum, which played a key role in shaping Christian democratic doctrine, pays key attention to the problem of combating social inequality: “…It is necessary to come to the aid of people from the poorest strata immediately, since a significant part of them are in conditions unworthy of a human being. Both institutions and legislation began to move away from the Christian spirit, and it happened that the labor force was gradually left alone, defenseless, face to face with the inhumanity of the masters and the greed of the owners. Greed, covetousness, and usury, so many times condemned by the Church, continued to exist under a different guise. Let us add to this the monopoly of production and trade, which has reached such a degree that a handful of rich people have imposed a yoke on the many proletarians that is no different from a slave’s.” That is why most Christian democratic parties in Europe have strong trade union wings, and the European People’s Party, an association of Christian democratic parties in the European Union, actively supports EU social programs.
Non-confessionalism. The influence of the Catholic Church on Christian democratic parties in Europe is a thing of the past, and today the non-denominational principle of Christian democracy does not tie this theory to Catholicism alone, but rather gives it broad prospects for development in every region of the planet. Moreover, modern Christian democrats dissociate themselves from any influence of religious institutions on their activities and clearly distinguish between the political and the religious. The main political goal of Christian democrats is to build a state and society on a Christian basis, and the ideas of Christianity should form the ethical basis of politics.
Christian democratic parties create favorable conditions for the participation of representatives of all religious denominations, and Christian democrats advocate interfaith reconciliation. In support of this, the international Christian Democracy International was renamed the Centrist Democratic International in 1999 to reflect the participation in the movement of not only Christians, but also representatives of other religions – Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and all those who support the ideas of humanism, solidarity, human spirituality, and the ideals of brotherhood.
Author: Valeriy Maydanyuk