Hans Kelsen on Political Catholicism and Christian Democracy

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

Hans Kelsen was one of the most important legal thinkers of the 20th century, and he is known for mounting an elaborate defense of liberal party democracy at a time when the latter was hardly the most popular form of regime. This article examines how Kelsen responded to two major political movements he experienced in his intellectual prime: political Catholicism, which he was confronted with in interwar Austria, and Christian Democracy, which became a hegemonic political force in Western Europe after World War II, when Kelsen was already in exile. The article reconstructs Kelsen's complex critique of these two religious movements and ends by reflecting on what we can learn from his arguments about current attempts to revive Christian political thought.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)457-476
Number of pages20
JournalEuropean Journal of Political Theory
Volume23
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Oct 2024

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 505016 Legal theory
  • 506013 Political theory

Keywords

  • Christian Democracy
  • Hans Kelsen
  • liberal democracy
  • political Catholicism
  • realism
  • relativism

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Hans Kelsen on Political Catholicism and Christian Democracy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this