CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Sadusky, Elizabeth Marie |
|---|---|
| Title | What do you mean Christian Democracy? An analysis of conflicting claim making of the Fidesz, Christian Democratic Union, and Austrian Peoples Party on Christian Democratic Ideology |
| Summary | The 2015 refugee reception crisis had profound impacts on the European Union. This thesis is an investigation of its effects on the growing rifts within the Christian Democratic party family. Specifically, it analyzes how three governing Christian Democratic parties responded to the crisis, what their response says about their claim making on the Christian Democratic ideology, and their interactions with one another. The response and claims being made by these parties will be historically, institutionally, and politically contextualized. In order to do so I will utilize the discourse historical approach of critical discourse analysis and process tracing. In light of this analysis, I argue that the Hungarian Fidesz party, with Orbán at its helm, has engaged in the social creativity strategy of identity management and created a new claim on Christian Democracy. This claim combines nationalism, populism, and civilizationism, wherein the “Christian” component of Christian Democracy is central. The German Christian Democratic Union, headed by Angela Merkel has made no such grand ideological claims but rather has been characterized by caution, pragmatism and centrism. Even while refusing to backdown rhetorically from a defense of the rights of asylum seekers and the responsibility of Germany, and the EU more broadly, to help, their policy making reflected collaboration, cooperation, and concession on these principles. The Austrian People’s Party engages in both approaches, fluctuating between the two without overindulging in either. The approach this paper takes, and the examples put forth by these parties can be utilized to investigate trends in other Christian Democratic parties, or even other party families, in the wake of major events. The information obtained from the analysis of the claim making of these parties sets the stage for the future of the Christian Democratic party family and ideology. |
| Supervisor | Pap, Andras L; Enyedi, Zsolt |
| Department | Nationalism Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/sadusky_elizabeth.pdf |
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