What is Christian Democracy?

Carlo Invernizzi-Accetti is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the City College, City University of New York and Associate Researcher at the Center for European Studies of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). He is the author of Relativism and Religion: Why Democratic Societies Do Not Need Moral Absolutes (2015) and Techno-populism: The New Logic of Democratic Politics (co-authored with Christopher Bickerton, forthcoming).

• Introduction; Part I. Conceptual Building Blocks of the Christian Democratic Ideology: 1. Anti-materialism: Christian Democracy's philosophy of history; 2. Personalism: neo-thomist metaphysics and human rights; 3. Popularism: consociational democracy and constitutionalism; 4. Subsidiarity: a theory of the state and internationalism; 5. Social capitalism: principles of Christian Democratic political economy; 6. Christian inspiration: the role of religion in politics; Part II. History and Future Prospects of Christian Democracy as a Political Phenomenon: 7. Christian Democracy in Continental Europe: from dominance to doom?; 8. The European Union as a Christian Democracy: a heuristic approach; 9. Christian Democracy in the Americas: periphery or vanguard?; 10. Persistent normative potential of Christian Democracy: between Muslim Democracy and far-right populism; Conclusion.