The origins of Christian democracy
Subtitle: politics and confession in modern Germany
By: Maria D. Mitchell
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Language: eng
Number of pages: 360
ISBN-13: 9780472118410; 9780472028542
Subjects: Christian democracy; Christianity and politics; Christian democratic parties; History
Description: This book is a pioneering contribution to the history of the founding of the West German political system after the Second World War. The political cooperation between Catholics and Protestants that resulted in the formation of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in occupied and early West Germany represented a significant change from a long history of hostility in confessional relations. Given that the CDU went on to dominate politics in West Germany well into the 1960s, Maria D. Mitchell argues that an understanding of what made this interconfessional party possible is crucial to an exploration of German history in the postwar period. She examines the political history of party formation as well as the religious beliefs and motivations that shaped the party's philosophy and positions. She provides an authoritative guide to the complex processes of maneuvering and negotiation that produced the CDU during 1945-46. The full range of political possibilities is discussed, including the suppressed alternatives to the Adenauer/Erhard axis that eventually defined the party's trajectory during the 1950s and the abortive Christian Socialism associated with Jacob Kaiser. -- Book jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Confessional conflict in German history; title: Politics in defeat: the organizational beginnings of Christian democracy; title: Christian democratic organization beyond the British zone: priests, Protestants, patriarchy; title: Secularism, materialism, and rechristianization: the construction of a Christian democratic ideology; title: Antimaterialism applied: ideological positions in the early CDU; title: Christian democracy in practice: economic discourse and policy; title: The CDU in council: forging economic and cultural policy; title: Christian democracy and confessional culture in the Federal Republic; title: Conclusion.