ABSTRACT
Christian Democratic ideas cover such a wide spectrum that Bernard Georges has argued that there is no such thing as Christian Democratic doctrine.1 It is true that in the immediate post-war period (which Georges was discussing) there did not appear to be much in common between the neo-liberal German CDU and the neo-socialist MRP, whilst the Italian DC had deliberately avoided drawing up a political programme in reaction to the over-precise manifesto of Don Sturzo’s Popular Party in 1919. But, whilst it cannot be denied that the practical policies pursued by Christian Democratic parties have varied widely, these policies have emanated from a number of common ideas which do form a solid core of Christian Democratic doctrine. Even if parties do not have a fully developed doctrine, they have ideas or at least an ideal. This is as true of conservative as of progressive parties. It is particularly true of French parties, which, like pre-war German parties, consider themselves incomplete without a Weltanschauung or all-embracing doctrine. It is perhaps significant that even the Radicals, whose ideas were incoherent or non-existent, contributed through Alain a corpus of doctrine which stands as a testimonial to the Third Republic.
