The Christian Democrat International [antikvár]

ForewordThis is an unusual book, the only one of its kind in English. Though the subject it deals with, the Christian Democrat International, is somewhat familiar to readers in Europe, Latin America, and other parts of the globe, it is all but unknown in the English-speaking world.' Christian Democracy in general as a form of political thought has been presented before in English, most thoroughly by Hans Maier and Michael P. Fogarty.^ Some of the figures who contributed to the development of Christian Democracy, notably the French philosopher Jacques Maritain, even spent time in the United States during various periods of turmoil in Europe. But Roberto Papini, the secretary general of the International Jacques Maritain Institute in Rome, has opened up some new territory here; he traces the development of the Christian Democratic (CD) movement in its international dimensions on several continents over several decades in the immediate past. And he suggests some ways that CD experience in national and international affairs may be of importance in the future.Most people who follow religion and politics in America and the Eng-lish-speaking world are vaguely aware that Christian Democrats, under one name or another, have formed important governing parties in countries like Germany, Italy, Belgium, Chile, Venezuela, and elsewhere. But they have very litde knowledge of what Christian Democracy is in itself or of the importance of the Christian Democrat International. This is a large gap in our knowledge because, in many ways, Christian Democracy might be viewed as trying to bring to politics in several parts of the world a kind of moderation informed by deep and broad religious values that is so much a part of English-speaking democracy. Anyone who admires Rein-hold Niebuhr and John Courtney Murrayor even Burke and Lord Acton, for their appreciation of the religious basis of political libertymay find interesting parallels to these figures in the development of Christian Democracy.In addition, the Christian Democrat International serves as one of the few significant and generally salutary worldwide political networks. The Socialist and Communist Internationals have had their share of the limelight, though their day may have passed. But the search for basic principlesviiIri