The paper deals with the evolution of the Catholic social & political movement & Christian democratic parties since the end of the 19th century. The origins of Catholic political involvement lie in the need to counter the challenges of capitalism, socialism, & liberal democracy. Its original platform was Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum. Christian democracy as a party option dates back to the emergence of the Popular Party (Partito popolare), first under the leadership of Romulo Murri, & after WWI by Luigi Sturzo, followed by the Christian democracy (Democrazia christiana) of Alcide de Gasperi & his successors. The political party that brings together Italian Catholics was at first totally independent of the Vatican. During Pius XII's papacy after WWII, it came under the Vatican's thumb. After John XXIII (1959-1963), the principle of the separation of the Church & politics, which was adhered to by all later popes, was stressed. The present-day crisis of Christian democracy is the outcome of the falling away from Christian social principles in the conduct of politics. Adapted from the source document.
The paper deals with the evolution of the Catholic social & political movement & Christian democratic parties since the end of the 19th century. The origins of Catholic political involvement lie in the need to counter the challenges of capitalism, socialism, & liberal democracy. Its original platform was Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum novarum. Christian democracy as a party option dates back to the emergence of the Popular Party (Partito popolare), first under the leadership of Romulo Murri, & after WWI by Luigi Sturzo, followed by the Christian democracy (Democrazia christiana) of Alcide de Gasperi & his successors. The political party that brings together Italian Catholics was at first totally independent of the Vatican. During Pius XII's papacy after WWII, it came under the Vatican's thumb. After John XXIII (1959-1963), the principle of the separation of the Church & politics, which was adhered to by all later popes, was stressed. The present-day crisis of Christian democracy is the outcome of the falling away from Christian social principles in the conduct of politics. Adapted from the source document.
Jacques Bidet's theory of modernity is a fascinating research project which confronts us in a challenging way with a series of key theoretical & practical problems. The text focuses on the concepts of metastructure, domination, class & democracy. The most important concept is "metastructure," which is to be perceived as all coordination & legitimation resources (on the economic, legal-political & cultural levels -- the overcoming of any transcendental order) at the disposal of the citizens of modernity. These resources can be combined in several different ways, in varied structures of modernity. How are we to understand the ontological status of this metastructure? A full answer confronts us with another question: is it possible to offer a scientific explanation of the genesis of this modern (meta)structure? Thus, if metastructure is some sort of general grammar of modernity, the social structures are an actualization of the possibilities of metastructure according to the spectrum ranging from the extreme of planned collectivism to the extreme of liberistic capitalism. Consequently, the duality of modernity is manifest in the fact that it is characterized, on the one hand, by universalistic legitimacy and, on the other, by the persistence of forms of (class) domination. According to Bidet, in capitalism a dominant class will be established with two poles -- property & competence -- which correspond to the interlinkage of market & organization in such a form of society. For this reason, an attempt to achieve emancipation from the domination of the proprietor, in the case of planned collectivism, developing to the full the organizational dimension in order to satisfy the social needs in a more egalitarian way, necessarily results in the organizer's domination. But the thesis that the dominant class in capitalism has two poles (property & competence) is met with the objection that simultaneously too much & not enough is said about the second pole of this class (of managers). Namely, it remains unclear how we must think the unity of capitalist domination in the plurality of spheres of social power; & if, on the contrary, we must abandon this unity, why should we limit ourselves to only two poles? The author concludes with a discussion of two questions which he deems to be decisive: to what extent can the inequalities related to property or competence be designated as class relations or forms of domination? And what is the relation between various modalities of class relations or relations of domination, & the institutions of modern poliarchic democracy which is centered on the multi-party system? Adapted from the source document.
