The deviant Nordic Christian Democratics
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2020-05-24
Language
en
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Abstract
Academic literature on Western European Christian Democratic parties often highlights the
uniqueness of Nordic Christian Democratic parties. Although there are some uniting factors between
Nordic and the Continental parties, some go as far as to argue that the Nordic parties represent a
separate party family in their own right. Analysing both the Nordic Christian Democratic and the
Continental Christian Democratic parties’ key ideological dimensions, we can see how the two differ
on crucial defining concepts. This thesis aims to evaluate whether the claimed distinctiveness of the
Nordic Christian Democratic parties materialises itself among their voters in comparison to the voters
of the Continental style of Christian Democracy. This research compares the Christian Democratic
electorates from three Nordic countries and four Continental countries. Aligned with the existing
theories, this thesis concludes that the two styles of Christian Democratic electorates deviate in
relation to key identifying features, however these differences are not as clear in all of the proposed
dimensions. The conclusions from this research show that it is more accurate to see the two styles of
Christian Democracy as sharing family resemblance, rather than as separate party families in their
own right.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen