Christian Democracy has been playing a leading role in political life on the European continent since the Second World War. It is striking that this influential political movement has hardly been studied from an international-comparative perspective. Therefore, between 15 and 18 November 1995, an international and interdisciplinary colloquium was organized in Leuven to shed more light on the historical role of Christian Democracy on the European continent and more specifically in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. This volume presents the proceedings of that colloquium.

For each of these five countries, the setting of Christian democracy in the political landscape, its party organization and its social support are studied. New in the concept of this study is that these aspects are linked to an exploration of the social impact of Christian democracy. Thus the authors investigate the influence of Christian Democratic parties on political institutions (parliamentary democracy and European integration) and socio-economic structures (the collective-bargaining economy and the welfare state). Finally, they look at the policy positions they have taken in the religious and ethical field.

The volume concludes with two essays on the collaboration between Christian democratic parties at the European level and their rapprochement with the conservative parties. The future development of European Christian Democracy is also considered. This book, which deals with a contemporary phenomenon, has been written by historians, political scientists, theologians and philosophers. English may be considered the basic language of this publication, although papers in French, German and Italian are also included.