| الوصف: |
This dissertation argues that Catholic social thought was a central component of post-1945 West European reconstruction: it simultaneously provided a vocabulary for a post-fascist order, brought Catholics into coalition with liberals and socialists, and inspired much of the social policy of the new republics. This was, to many, a shocking outcome, as Catholics a few decades earlier had been largely opposed to the democratic Versailles order. Their continent-wide transition to democracy has yet to be convincingly explained. The answer, I argue, should be sought at the level of social thought. Following a number of anthropologists and political scientists, I suggest that modern governance is related far more closely to social theory, and social science, than it is to political theory, narrowly understood. Catholics lacked a genuine political theory, but they did not lack a sociology--and it is the latter that is required to govern a modern state. Following this insight, my research uncovered the forgotten ... |
