The Past and Present of Christian Democracy
Friday, September 24, 2021
8:30 am – 2:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Online Event
8:30 AM – 2 PM New York l 2:30–8 PM Vienna
As the upcoming German parliamentary elections of September 2021 will mark the end of the remarkable political career of Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor since 2005, CEU Democracy Institute’s Review of Democracy journal invites leading scholars to a special symposium dedicated to the past and present of Christian Democracy.
Carlo Invernizzi Accetti’s recent book What Is Christian Democracy? Politics, Religion and Ideology (Cambridge University Press, 2019) will serve as a point of departure for our discussions.
The symposium aims to link key issues in the historiography of Christian Democracy with reflections on contemporary political developments. We shall touch on key issues to better grasp the content and historical significance of this complex historical formation: the relationship between Christian Democratic ideology and practice; Christian Democracy’s connection with the Church’s social doctrine; central challenges to Christian Democracy throughout the 20th and 21st centuries; as well as Christian Democracy’s relationship with other political ideologies (conservatism, socialism, liberalism, neoliberalism).
The symposium will consist of three parts: the first panel will discuss the history of Christian Democracy à propos Carlo Invernizzi Accetti’s insights. A second, more political panel will take Carlo Invernizzi Accetti’s ideas about Christian Democracy as a starting point for discussing the transformation of Christian Democracy in the early 21st and zoom in on the impact and legacy of Angela Merkel. The last part of the symposium will be devoted to the political career and leadership of Angela Merkel. Her biographer, Kati Marton, the author of The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel (Simon & Schuster, forthcoming 2021), will reflect on her findings regarding the first female chancellor of Germany.
The discussion will be streamed live on the Review of Democracy’s Facebook page. If you are interested in following it, then please join the Facebook event as well.
PROGRAM
14:30–14:45 (CET)
Introductory word by Michał Matlak (Managing Editor of RevDem)
15:00–16:45 (CET)
Christian Democracy in History: In Dialogue with Carlo Invernizzi Accetti
Moderated by Vilius Kubekas (PhD Candidate, Central European University)
Giuliana Chamedes (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
James Chappel (Duke University)
Martin Conway (University of Oxford)
Response by Carlo Invernizzi Accetti (The City College of New York)
17:00–18:45 (CET)
The Transformation of Christian Democracy in the Early 21st Century
Moderated by Katarzyna Krzyżanowska (PhD Candidate, European University Institute, Florence)
Stefan Auer (University of Hong Kong)
François Foret (Free University of Brussels)
Paweł Marczewski (The Batory Foundation in Warsaw)
Response by Carlo Invernizzi Accetti (The City College of New York)
19:00–19:45 (CET)
The Chancellor
Kati Marton discusses the political career of Angela Merkel with Ferenc Laczó (Maastricht University)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1291776124614537/