Popolarismo (English: Popularism) is the term Italian politician Luigi Sturzo used to describe his political doctrine that formed the ideological basis for the Italian Popular Party and later Christian Democracy. In the Papal Encyclical Graves de Communi, (1901) Pope Leo XIII did not want Christian Democracy to enter the political sphere, and restricted it to the social action. Sturzo developed Popularism as an alternative means of political action, which had an ideological focus on the people.[1] As one academic notes:
To put it in a nutshell, Popularism was a political version of its predecessor, the prevalently social Christian Democracy.[2]
In this European context, Popularism helped Catholics come to accept democratic institutions,[3] alongside inspiring the French Popular Democratic Party (formed 1924),[4] the Spanish Partido Social Popular,[3] and the People and Freedom group (formed 1936), which Sturzo helped form in London.[5] Sturzo outlined his conception of popularism as follows:
Popularism is democratic, but it differs from liberal democracy in that it denies the individualist and centralising system of the State and wishes the State to be organic and decentralised. It is liberal (in the wholesome sense of the word) because it takes its stand on the civil and political liberties, which it upholds as equal for all, without party monopolies and without persecution of religion, races or classes. It is social in the sense of a radical reform of the present capitalist system, but it parts company with socialism because it admits of private property while insisting on the social function of such property. It proclaims its Christian character because to-day there can be no ethics or civilisation other than Christian. Popularism was the antithesis of the totalitarian State.[6]
In describing Popularism, Sturzo refers to the political program of the Italian Popular Party, which called for the state to recognize natural communities, such as the family, the classes and the communes, proportional representation and universal suffrage for women, for an elected senate to represent the managers, trade unions and academics, the decentralization of power and greater regional autonomy, freedom of religion, the demonopolisation of education, and pro workers legislation generally.[7] The Popular Democratic Party's most significant theorist was Marcel Prélot, who was Struzo's French translator.[8] He said the Popular Democratic Party:
called themselves démocrate populaires in spite of the slight pleonasm of the term in order to underline, on one hand, their determined adherence to government "for the people" and "by the people"; in order, on the other hand, to indicate their organic and anti-individualistic conception of social life.[9]
Academics have noted that Popularism relates to the Christian Democratic notions of the people,[5][10][1] and democracy.[11][12][13][14]
The notion of the people is that the people extend beyond the working class, and actually encompasses the whole of society.[5] But it is not a mass aggregation of individuals; the people is an organically unified community, but also internally diverse community.[15] Christian Democratic parties have invoked the people when naming themselves “popular” or “People’s Parties”.[10][16] In this invocation, Christian Democratic parties aim for two things. The first is 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).[16][17] 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.[18][19] In practice, the specific religious nature of the Christian Democratic parties has enabled them to cut across the class divide.[20]
The notion of the democracy that derives from this reflects the socio-economic diversity of people by advocating inclusive forms of democracy.[21][22] This has led to the Christian Democratic call for Proportional Representation.[23] Christian Democrats have also called for Pillarization, which where representatives is based on a vast array of complex social organizations ingrained in the fabric of society.[24] Often, these organizations play an intermediary role to democracy.[25]
In light of the 100th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Italian Popular Party, the Luigi Sturzo Institute has aimed to increase the general knowledge about the party, and noted that:
Popularism is characterized by the constructive capacity of new political forms, by the demand for institutional reforms and by the disposition to listen to changes in society.[26]
Modern Christian Democrats have called for Popularism. In 2019, after a meeting with Pope Francis and Donald Tusk, Charles Michel noted the differences between Popularism (popolarismo) and Populism (populismo):
With Pope Francis we discussed the difference between ‘populismo’ and ‘popolarismo’ distinguishing the politics of ‘pleasing the people’ from the politics of ‘for the people’. A key question for European Christian Democrats.[27]
Donald Tusk, would later refer to this meeting at the European People's Party congress in Zagreb, and call for "responsible popularity" over "irresponsible populism".[28] Pope Francis would later call for Popularism instead of Populism in a video message for the release of his book Let us Dream: The Path to a Better Future.[29]
Felice, Flavio; Sandonà, Luca (2019). "Luigi Sturzo's Socio-economic Development Theory and the Case of Italy: No Prophet in His Homeland". Law and Development. Singapore: Springer Singapore. pp.31–49. ISBN9789811394225.
Papini, Roberto (1993). "Christianity and Democracy in Europe". In Witte, John (ed.). Christianity and Democracy in Global Context. ISBN978-0-8133-1843-1.
Prélot, Marcel (1962). "Histoire et doctrine due Parti Democrate Populaire". Politique. New series (19–20): 323.
The Civic Platform is a centre to centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since 2021, it has been led by Donald Tusk, who previously led it from 2003 to 2014 and was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019.
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic political party in Italy. The DC was founded on 15 December 1943 in the Italian Social Republic as the nominal successor of the Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crusader shield. As a Catholic-inspired, centrist, catch-all party comprising both centre-right and centre-left political factions, the DC played a dominant role in the politics of Italy for fifty years, and had been part of the government from soon after its inception until its final demise on 16 January 1994 amid the Tangentopoli scandals. Christian Democrats led the Italian government continuously from 1946 until 1981. The party was nicknamed the "White Whale" due to its huge organisation and official colour. During its time in government, the Italian Communist Party was the largest opposition party.
Populism is a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group with "the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed in the late 19th century and has been applied to various politicians, parties and movements since that time, often as a pejorative. Within political science and other social sciences, several different definitions of populism have been employed, with some scholars proposing that the term be rejected altogether.
Christian democracy is a political ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics.
Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, commonly known simply as The Daisy, was a centrist political party in Italy. The party was formed from the merger of three parties within the centre-left coalition: the Italian People's Party, The Democrats and Italian Renewal. The party president and leader was Francesco Rutelli, former mayor of Rome and prime ministerial candidate during the 2001 general election for The Olive Tree coalition, within which The Daisy electoral list won 14.5% of the national vote.
Luigi Sturzo was an Italian Catholic priest and prominent politician. He was known in his lifetime as a Christian socialist and is considered one of the fathers of the Christian democratic platform. He was also the founder of the Luigi Sturzo Institute in 1951. Sturzo was one of the founders of the Italian People's Party (PPI) in 1919 but was forced into exile in 1924 with the rise of Italian fascism, and later in 1943 Christian Democracy, although he was never a party member. In exile in London and later New York City, he published over 400 articles critical of fascism. Sturzo's cause for canonization opened on 23 March 2002 and he is titled as a Servant of God.
The Christian Democratic Party, also called simply Christian Democracy, is a Christian democrat political party in Argentina.
Giuseppe Spataro was an Italian politician.
Right-wing populism, also called right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishment, and speaking to or for the "common people". Recurring themes of right-wing populists include neo-nationalism, social conservatism, economic nationalism and fiscal conservatism. Frequently, they aim to defend a national culture, identity, and economy against perceived attacks by outsiders. Like all forms of populism, right-wing populism has associations with authoritarianism, while some far right-wing populists draw comparisons to fascism.
The Italian People's Party, also translated as Italian Popular Party, was a Christian-democratic political party in Italy inspired by Catholic social teaching. It was active in the 1920s, but fell apart because it was deeply split between the pro- and anti-fascist elements. Its platform called for an elective Senate, proportional representation, corporatism, agrarian reform, women's suffrage, political decentralisation, independence of the Catholic Church, and social legislation.
Popular democracy is a notion of direct democracy based on referendums and other devices of empowerment and concretization of popular will. The concept evolved out of the political philosophy of populism, as a fully democratic version of this popular empowerment ideology, but since it has become independent of it, and some even discuss if they are antagonistic or unrelated now. Though the expression has been used since the 19th century and may be applied to English Civil War politics, at least the notion is deemed recent and has only recently been fully developed.
The Popular Democratic Party was a Christian democratic political party in France during the Third Republic. Founded in 1924, it represented the trend of French social Catholicism, while remaining a party embodying the ideology of centrism. The party's ideology was inspired by the popularism of Luigi Sturzo's Italian People's Party. The PDP was a co-founder in 1925 of the International Secretariat of Democratic Parties of Christian Inspiration (SIPDIC).
Left-wing populism, also called social populism, is a political ideology that combines left-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric often includes elements of anti-elitism, opposition to the Establishment, and speaking for the "common people". Recurring themes for left-wing populists include economic democracy, social justice, and skepticism of globalization. Socialist theory plays a lesser role than in traditional left-wing ideologies.
Damaso Pio De Bono was the eighth bishop of Caltagirone in Italy.
DonGiuseppe Rizzo was an Italian Catholic priest, politician and journalist.
Techno-populism is either a populism in favor of technocracy or a populism concerning certain technology – usually information technology – or any populist ideology conversed using digital media. It can be employed by single politicians or whole political movements respectively. Neighboring terms used in a similar way are technocratic populism, technological populism, and cyber-populism. Italy's Five Star Movement and France's La République En Marche! have been described as technopopulist political movements.
Luigi Granelli (1929–1999) was an Italian politician who served in different government posts. He was a member of the Christian Democracy (DC) between 1945 and 1994 and one of the "third generation" leaders of the Christian Democrats. Granelli joined People's Party (PPI) in 1994.
Cronache Sociali was a biweekly political magazine that was published in Rome, Italy, between 1947 and 1951. The magazine was one of the publications by the factions within the Christian Democracy (DC) and mostly focused on the political economy.
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