»Democratic Peace« and Religion

The Political Ethics of Catholicism between Authoritarian and Democratic State

Abstract

The relationship between the form of government, religion und conflict, or more precisely: democracy, Catholicism and peace, is discussed in the essay. For this purpose, the 1930s will be examined in particular, in which Catholicism, with the encyclica Quadragesimo anno, committed itself to authoritarian corporatism, i.e. an autocratic form of government, especially in Austria. With the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church changed its concept from political ethics to democracy. This development is particularly interesting for conception of religious policies, on the one hand because such a process of change within a religious community is remarkable, on the other hand because the question arises with regard to the third wave of autocratization: Is this supported by the Catholic authoritarian corporatist tradition?