Thesis (Master of Science)--University of Wisconsin. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: p. 145-151.

Based on the author's thesis. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

The aim of the study is to map out and analyse the integration of political parties from Central and Eastern Europe into the main European party families. The prospect of eastern enlargement of the EU implicated opportunities and above all challenges for the West European party families. The challenges consisted of integrating new parties with a different historical legacy. The study focuses on mainly how the European party families handled these challenges and what motives that have driven them in this engagement. At a more general level the thesis sketches two alternatives interpretations of the process: Western neo-colonialism and contribution to democratisation. The method used for the study is comparative case-study method and the main sources that have been utilised are party documents and in-depth interviews. The study is delimited to the three main European party families: the Christian democrats, the social democrats and the liberals. The countries of interest in Central and Eastern Europe are those postcommunist countries that became EU-members in 2004 and 2007: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The time-frame is limited to the first party contacts in 1989 to the final inclusion of the new parties in 2000-2006. The results suggest that the European parties have responded with ambitious means to the challenge of integrating new parties from a postcommunist context. They have set up new coordinating bodies and organised educational programmes for the applicant parties, mainly directed to young politicians. The Christian democrats and the social democrats have also used parallel organisations as buffer-zones, which provided certain flexibility. As for motives, the Christian democrats stand out as the party family with the clearest power-oriented motives. At the other end, the liberals stand out as the party family that is most steered by ideology and identity. The social democrats went through a change with ideological considerations dominating the early phase and became increasingly poweroriented as the EU enlargement drew closer. When it comes to the two alternative interpretations of this process, the main conclusion is that they are intertwined and more or less impossible to separate from each other.

Thesis--Columbia University. / Bibliography: p. [215]-224.

The main goal of this thesis is to find out if the Christian Democratic Movement is able to become a leader of the right wing parties within the Slovak party system. This question is the result of the last election in March 2012 when the former leader Slovak Christian and Democratic Union failed. The work is divided in three chapters. The first chapter analyses consolidation of the Slovak party system and classify it according to the theoretical part about party systems and conception of cleavages. The second part testifies belonging of Christian Democratic Movement to the family of Christian Democratic parties according to the evolution, membership in multinational groups and programmatic. The third chapter analyses social- demographic and value profile of Christian Democratic Movement followers, the credibility of the movement and the voter's movements between parties.

This thesis posits that Christian Democracy arose in Central America because of its emphasis on basic reforms and social justice, and that its messianic appeal and charismatic leadership propelled it to national political power in El Salvador and Guatemala. The study continues by examining the presidencies of Napoleon Duarte of El Salvador and Vinicio Cerezo of Guatemala, concluding that their economic, political, and foreign policy agendas did not resolve the basic social conflicts which fuel both countries civil wars and economic crises. The findings of the study indicate that these Christian Democrats' alliances with their countries' armed forces and their inability to tap the potential of the movement's messianic, reformist vigor, prevented their administrations from ending the political violence and achieving a national unity capable of launching equitable development.

No description available.

L'indagine ha per oggetto il periodo americano di Luigi Sturzo (1940-1946), finora proco esplorato, soprattutto dal punto di vista delle fonti americane. E' stata messa in luce una serie di attività politiche e culturali, inquadrabili in precise strategie, volte alla diffusione dei valori della democrazia cristiana, a livello internazionale; alla formazione della classe politica; al più ampio sostegno alla patria lontana. / The essay focuses the American period of Luigi Sturzo (1940-1946), which has not been sufficiently explored until now, expecially from the point of view of the American archives data. It has been highlighted a series of political and cultural activitie set up by Sturzo, and which can be contestualized in the sense of precise strategies, directed to the diffusion of the values Christian Democracy, in the international background; to the formation of the ruling classes; to the wide support to the constitution of the democratic system in Italy.

"An earlier version of this study was presented as a dissertation for the degree of doctor of philosophy (at Yale University)." / Bibliography: p. 293-311. Bibliographical footnotes.

Apparu dès les années 1930 sous la forme d’un parti, la Phalange nationale, le mouvement démocrate-chrétien chilien devient en 1957 un parti de masse, le Parti démocrate-chrétien (PDC). Celui-ci a occupé une place centrale sur la scène politique chilienne dans le tournant des années 1950-1960, puis au début des années 1990. À travers la victoire électorale d’Eduardo Frei Montalva, le PDC est en 1964 la première démocratie chrétienne latino-américaine à occuper la présidence de la République. En 1990, un président démocrate-chrétien (DC), Patricio Aylwin, conduit le premier gouvernement civil et démocratique après la dictature militaire. Cette thèse propose une histoire de ce parti sous des angles variés avec tout d’abord une histoire électorale qui vise le jeu d’échelles entre les résultats nationaux et l’enracinement du parti dans les villes, les provinces et les régions chiliennes. Puis, une histoire idéologique cherche à comprendre le projet de troisième voie, qui se veut une alternative au communisme et au capitalisme dans le contexte de Guerre froide. Ensuite, une histoire militante a pour objectifs de brosser le portrait type du dirigeant du PDC et de distinguer des générations de dirigeants DC. Enfin, une histoire de l’insertion internationale de la démocratie chrétienne chilienne témoigne de l’importance de ses relations avec les États-Unis et avec les « partis frères » européens et latino-américains dans le contexte de la Guerre froide et de lutte contre la Révolution cubaine. Au travers de l’exemple du PDC chilien, c’est plus généralement à la question de l’historicité du projet démocrate-chrétien de troisième voie que cette thèse est dédiée. / Stemming in the 1930s from the National Phalange party, the Chilean Christian Democratic movement became in 1957 a Mass party, the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). The PDC occupied a central place on the Chilean political scene at the turning point of the 1950s-1960s, then at the beginning of the 1990s. The electoral victory of Eduardo Frei Montalva led in 1964 the PDC to be the first Latin American Christian Democracy to run the Presidency. In 1990, a Christian Democratic (DC) President, Patricio Aylwin, led the first civil and democratic government after the military dictatorship. This thesis proposes a History of this Party under varied angles with an Electoral History which aims at the game of scales between the national results and the implanting of the Party in cities, provinces and Chilean regions. Then, an Ideological History tries to understand the project of the Third Way, which aims to be an alternative to the communism and capitalism in the context of the Cold War. Then, a Militant History has for objectives to distinguish generations of DC leaders. Finally, a History of the international insertion of the Chilean Christian Democracy testifies of the importance of its relations with the United States and with the European and Latin American "brother parties" in the context of the Cold War and the fight against the Cuban Revolution. Beyond the example of the Chilean PDC, this thesis is dedicated to the question of the historicity of the Christian Democratic project of the Third Way.