Popularism
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Popularism (italian: popolarismo) is a political doctrine conceived by Don Luigi Sturzo as a middle way between Socialism and Liberalism and opposed to Fascism because of its stress on Democracy. It was the basis for the Italian People's Party (Italian: Partito Popolare Italiano) and, after World War II, contributed in the founding of European Christian Democracy. The European People's Party (Italian: Partito Popolare Europeo) was named after that in 1976. Although in a new meaning the term is still common in several European country to refer to conservative or centrist parties.
Within Christian Democracy the use of the name People's Party is widespread, and relates to the closest thing to a utopian ideal that the ideology has. It consists of two meanings. The first is the idea that the Christian Democratic parties should try to work towards a policy that is for the good of all the members of society, as opposed to parties that promote the good of a specific group (i.e. class). The second refers to a society where the people live in a kind of harmony, and where people and groups are interested in and care about each other. It isn't believed this goal can ever be attained, so it's more of a direction to work towards than a real utopian ideal.
Similarly in Italy, the most relevant heir of popularism, the Italian People's Party, dissolved in 2002 in the Daisy-Democracy is Freedom party which in turn in 2004 was among the founders of the European Democratic Party. Consequently Forza Italia, the party of Silvio Berlusconi, became the sole important party of European popularism in Italy.
Therefore more and more frequently politologists speaks about a new popularism or european popularism as Christian Democracy contaminated by several doctrines as Italian berlusconism, Spanish aznarism, French gaullism and partially by British and American conservatism, neoliberalism and neoconservatism.
Silvio Berlusconi, José María Aznar López, José Manuel Durão Barroso, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel can be seen as representative of that.
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Ideas
Social conservatism
Social market economy
Catholic social teaching
Human dignity · Personalism
Communitarianism · Popularism
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Important Documents
Rerum Novarum (1891)
Stone Lectures (Princeton 1898)
Graves de Communi Re (1901)
Quadragesimo Anno (1931)
Laborem Exercens (1981)
Sollicitudi Rei Socialis (1987)
Centesimus Annus (1991)
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Sturzo's Popularism
(under development...)Christian Democracy
Main article: Christian DemocracyNew Popularism and European Popularism
From the mid 90s, the European People's Party started to receive conservative parties in his group in the European Parliament (among others the British Conservative Party, the Spanish Partido Popular, the portugues Partido Social Democrata and the Italian Forza Italia), with the aim of exceed in members the Party of European Socialists group. In July 1999 the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats group was founded and, with the joining of gaullist Rally for the Republic, it became the greatest group in the European Parliament. The consequent approachment to more conservative and euro-sceptic policies caused in 2004 the split of the europhile tendency to form the European Democratic Party.Populism vs Popularism
The popularism of Don Luigi Sturzo can be roughly described to American readers as a democratic kind of agrarian populism or Silvio Berlusconi can be defined as a populist in the same way Ross Perot or George W. Bush are.
Therefore popularism represents a more politically correct alternative term since in Latin countries of Europe and the Americas populism is strongly derogatory and typically equated to dictatorial policies or fascist regimes.See also
European People's PartyExternal links
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