There are many “versions” of democracy, but it is Christian democracy that is focused on taking into account the interests of the whole society and has “safeguards” against authoritarian tendencies.

Christian democracy is an ideological and political platform that aims to integrate Christian principles and democracy, and sees the solution to key contemporary problems in the light of Christian morality and Christian humanism. The ideological basis of Christian democracy is based on the Christian principles of human rights, democracy, and class and social reconciliation. Christian democracy shares the conservative values of individualism, respect for private property, anti-communism, and opposition to excessive state intervention in public affairs. As Professor Udi Greenberg has rightly noted, Christian democracy, born in response to fascism and communism, argued that human “dignity”-a quality defined by God-is best realized through a combination of pluralistic politics and Christian social teaching.

In the context of social upheavals, world wars, and revolutions of the twentieth century, Christian democracy emerged as a political force that could claim to be a constructive alternative to destructive social trends between extremes: between left-wing populism and old bureaucratic conservatism. In the context of the diversity of approaches to understanding democracy, Christian democrats are supporters of the concept of pluralistic democracy. This concept was a compromise between the theories of participatory democracy, which idealizes the possibility of active political participation of all members of society, and elitist democracy, which claims that democracy is not the power of the people, but the ability of the people to choose their rulers.

The pluralist theory of democracy is based on the idea that neither the people nor the individual can be the main driving force of the political process in a democratic state. In practice, with the exception of national liberation movements, the people cannot be the only subject of politics. People always consist of competing interest groups and are very heterogeneous. Hence, it is impossible to achieve any single understanding of the “people’s good”. Therefore, in a situation where each citizen or social group has its own understanding of good, happiness, welfare and ways to achieve them, democracy cannot be effective without group interaction, fair representation and coordination of interests. It is in the group that the interests and value orientations of citizens are formed, and it is only through the group that an individual can express his or her political interests. The purpose of democracy, according to Christian democrats, is primarily to provide all social groups with the opportunity to express and protect their interests.

These interests are expressed through interest groups, such as trade unions, business associations, religious and cultural associations. Instead, the state is seen as a neutral arbiter between competing political groups, whose task is to prevent one group from gaining an advantage over another and to preserve the conditions of free political competition.

Christian democrats do not support the absolutization of individual freedom inherent in liberalism, which leads to polarization of society and political instability. An alternative to this should be pluralistic democracy, based on the consideration of the diversity of social interests. Pluralistic democracy is democracy for all. It ensures a balance of power between class, national, economic, social, and other interest groups that drive politics and are central to a democratic political system. Its main feature is the open nature of political decision-making through representative bodies. Due to the presence of autonomous associations in society, such as Christian communities, the pluralistic model of democracy creates mechanisms that make the government accountable to the people.

For a pluralistic democracy, it is important not only to have ideological pluralism, but also social pluralism, which means taking into account all the interests of social groups. Christian democrats recognize the principles of interdependence and interconnectedness of society, in which the common good can be achieved only through joint efforts, so communities must take into account the interests of other communities. Pluralistic democracy is based on a clear sense of solidarity among different social groups, which implies that politicians are responsible to their voters, communities, and trade unions. However, protecting the interests of one’s community or group must be done with the requirements of the common good in mind. Only under such conditions does a culture of solidarity become a prerequisite for the prosperity of a democratic, social and legal state.

Thanks to the broad representation of the interests of all social groups, the pluralistic model of democracy supported by Christian democrats prevents the government from pursuing policies that harm the interests of citizens for a long time.

Author: Valeriy Maydanyuk

Although today we understand Europe to be much wider than the EU borders, we often start to equate these concepts – “EU” and “European” – at the everyday level. This is wrong, because Europe is much broader than the association of 27 countries, and the EU is even beginning to lose its former members, such as the United Kingdom.

At least another 13 countries are not EU members, including developed Western European countries (Norway, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Switzerland), as well as poorer 6 Balkan countries (Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo) and 3 Eastern European countries (Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus), as well as countries that partially lie in Europe – Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Kazakhstan.

Today, the EU and Europe as a whole are going through another stage of struggle against challenges that test their strength.

These and other problems are causing a certain frustration among Europeans, many of whom are looking for salvation in the arms of outspoken right-wing or left-wing populists who promise simple solutions immediately. Christian democracy is also going through a difficult time because its position is quite complex, its politics is based on balanced centrism, responsibility, cooperation and solidarity, and many people are tired of being like that, looking for simple recipes for all the new troubles. As a result, there are outbreaks of popularity of either far-right political forces that captivate the European people with simple proposals to “throw migrants out”, “keep them out”, “fight Islam”, or far-left political forces with their “fight capitalism and the rich, imperialists who are to blame for everything”, “fight the dominance of religious paternalism and traditional values, white supremacism and Christianity”.

These slogans from both sides undermine the foundations of the idea of a united Europe, which is built on the basis of unifying Christian values, which are essentially the foundation of this idea and in their time gave rise to the idea of human rights, solidarity, freedom, responsibility and cooperation. Denial and dilution of these ideas leads to the destruction of the foundations of the common European home, which can cause inevitable and large-scale disasters.

Author: Yuriy Mindyuk

It may seem paradoxical to many Ukrainians, but many of our opponents in the West have more in common with Ukraine than those we used to consider allies.

American and European conservatives and right-wingers, except for those who are on the Kremlin’s payroll and are paid for deliberate lies, are very close to the traditional views of Ukrainians in their worldview.

For example, Trumpists have almost the same vision of migration, gender and LGBT issues, traditional values, and preservation of customary social norms as Ukrainians do with BLM supporters from the US Democratic Party. The situation is similar with European conservatives, who stand for the protection of public morality, the traditional family type, freedom of speech without censorship, and true equality based on race or gender, without the illusion of positive discrimination.

The problem is that some Western powers that have so much in common with Ukrainians often oppose military and financial support for Ukraine for several main reasons:

A) They are in opposition and criticize any initiatives of liberal governments, even if they would support Ukraine if they came to power. This is a matter of political conjuncture, which always follows a similar logic.

B) Populists who are simply looking for topics that are favorable for electoral points. These people are not direct enemies of Ukraine, but situationally they are in a position where it is beneficial to criticize aid to our country. If you work with them and convey the Ukrainian position, it is quite possible to explain something to someone there.

C) Latent Russian agents or environments that feed from the Kremlin trough and profess anti-Western conspiracy theories. It’s hard to argue with those who are paid to have a different opinion. However, there are a lot of zombies in this environment who are just victims of propaganda.

Ukrainians should work with the first two categories and even with the third audience and spread our point of view. They oppose the dominance of “the Freemasons and the world government,” and Ukraine is a small state fighting against the aggression of a huge empire. If one wants to be on the side of good against the world’s evil, one should stand with Ukraine. The same thesis could be supported in the Global South, which has begun to complain about the dominance of the “northerners” – Russia is precisely the northern country that is launching its colonial tentacles into African and Asian countries.

Christians should know that our country is one of the last strongholds of Western civilization fighting against the Chechen-Buryat horde. If someone admires the Crusaders, then the modern crusaders are Ukrainians who are protecting the eastern flank of Western civilization with their resistance.

Texas macho men and jeep-riding gun enthusiasts need to know that Ukraine is a country of strong people who are bravely fighting for their land and homes against cruel barbarians. Virtually every category of European right-wing and conservative circles could find their ideals embodied in the Ukrainian struggle for freedom if this information were conveyed to them. The Ukrainian diaspora and the new wave of emigrants have a tremendous amount of work to do to convey to Westerners the truth that pro-Russian influencers and anonymous telegram channels are trying to distort.

This is a lot of work and often lacks resources, but Ukrainians should not miss the opportunity to win over those with whom we share common worldview values.

Author: Valeriy Maydanyuk