Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Advanced Research in Social Sciences
Year: 2024
DOI:
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The European Union and Christian Democratic Values – New Challenges and Perspectives
Andreja Sršen
ABSTRACT:
This article deals with the role of Christian democracy in the European Union and analyses the crisis of values facing European society today. Despite its enormous political and social influence, Christian democracy in the European Union has not received nearly the same attention in academic discourse as social democracy or liberalism. Using the theoretical model of sociologist Urlich Beck’s theory of reflexive modernisation, this article analyses how the European Union as a political model is based on Christian democratic ideology and how important Christian democratic ideology is for the survival of European identity. The key figures, initiators and founders of today’s European Union, Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman, were courageous visionaries and politicians who wanted to build Europe precisely on Christian values and roots. They can be described (on a theoretical basis) as “reflexive” modernisers of their time. Therefore, the paper explores new perspectives in which the Christian conception of democracy and social organisation is again seen as a foundation on which – together with other factors – Christian democratic Europe can be further built. Finally, the paper analyses the relationship between Christian democracy and Europe, the challenges for the Christian democratic model of political economy and the question of the principle of subsidiarity in the law and politics of the European Union.
keywords: Christian democracy, European Union, democracy, values, sociology