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The Political Theology of European Integration pp 115–161Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Theology and Integration

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy ((PSRPP))

Abstract

In this chapter, Royce establishes the extent of European integration for his 17 observations on the basis of their respective memberships in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA), and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which range from more to less integrated. He compares these outcomes with the comparative results for political theology, and finds that all of the non-EMU countries constitutionally establish Protestantism in some form. These findings are explained on the basis of a theological to constitutional to political process of ideational development, and Royce develops two traditions according to this model. A “Thomist, Tridentine, Christian Democratic tradition” helped give rise to supranational integration, but a “Reformed, Westphalian, Nationalist tradition” informs the politics of Euro-skepticism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Respectively, Pan-Europe (New York: Knopf, 1926); “The Growth of the European Movement Since the Second World War,” in European Integration, ed. Michael Hodges (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972).

  2. 2.

    The complete list of EU member states are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

  3. 3.

    Memoirs (New York: Doubleday, 1978: 423).

  4. 4.

    European Free Trade Association, “The European Economic Area and the Single Market 20 Years on,” EFTA Bulletin (2012): 20–21.

  5. 5.

    Unions of States (1981: 161).

  6. 6.

    This analysis thoughtfully excludes the only other two possibilities: the Council of Europe and the Schengen agreements. Every country under observation belongs to the former intergovernmental congress, and given that a constant cannot help explain variation, this information is therefore irrelevant. With regard to Schengen—from which only Great Britain and Ireland abstain—one might with justice read little significance into a set of protocols among sovereign governments pertaining to the conduct and procedures of security officials at their respective borders. Brussels has more recently sought to co-opt and self-aggrandize this system, but the legal foundations are intergovernmental. Among the minimal existing research, see Ruben Zaiotti, “Revisiting Schengen: Europe and the Emergence of a New Culture of Border Control,” Perspectives on European Politics and Society 8 (2007): 31–54.

  7. 7.

    Roman Catholicism and Political Form (1993: 89–90).

  8. 8.

    France, Italy, and West Germany were original Community member states, while Portugal and Spain joined in 1986.

  9. 9.

    Summa Theologica (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1920 [1265–1274]).

  10. 10.

    See for instance Robert Bellarmine, On Temporal and Spiritual Authority (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2012); Francisco de Vitoria, Political Writings (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991); and Francisco Suárez, Selections from Three Works (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2014).

  11. 11.

    I have consulted the unabridged English translation of J. Waterworth (1848), and references are to the page numbers of that volume. The Tridentine documents are a diffuse assembly of canons, decrees, bulls, and other declarations that together comprise a vast outline of theological affirmation and ecclesiastical law; and to enhance simplicity I have decided to omit the innumerable internal titles and subheadings.

  12. 12.

    See Tom O’Donoghue and Judith Harford, “A Comparative History of Church-State Relations in Irish Education,” Comparative Education Review 55 (2011): 315– 341.

  13. 13.

    To recall, Italy, Portugal, and Spain are Catholic countries by the terms of the third chapter. Germany is “Christian,” and while France registered as a non-result, its inclusion here will be satisfactorily explained below.

  14. 14.

    Europe: I Struggle, I Overcome (2008), 1.

  15. 15.

    While not essential to the aims of this study, it at least merits observation that while Franco, Salazar, and also Mussolini are usually described as fascists, they and their regimes can just as plausibly be interpreted as authoritarian descendants of the Counter-Reformation. Franco and Salazar in many respects took up the mantle of Fernand and Isabella.

  16. 16.

    El Estado espaňol reconoce a la Iglesia Católica el derecho de ejercer su misión apostólica.

  17. 17.

    A Santa Sé e a República Portuguesa declaram o empenho do Estado e da Igreja Católica na cooperação para a promoção da dignidade da pessoa humana, justiça e da paz.

  18. 18.

    A República Portuguesa providenciará no sentido de possibilitar aos católicos, nos termos da lei portuguesa, o cumprimento dos deveres religiosos nos dias festivos.

  19. 19.

    Respectively, the Spanish Concordat of 1953, and the Portuguese of 1940.

  20. 20.

    The private papers of Italian prime ministers need not proceed directly to a state archive. For reviews of the Italian treatments, see Giulio Venneri, “Man of Faith and Political Commitment: Alcide De Gasperi in the History of Europe,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 13 (2008): 89–92; and Steven White, “In Search of Alcide De Gasperi: Innovations in Italian Scholarship Since 2003,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 15 (2010): 462–470.

  21. 21.

    From 1924, De Gasperi participated in the Aventine secession, in which the opposition parties boycotted parliamentary service in protest of the rising fascist intimidation and violence.

  22. 22.

    Paolo Acanfora, “Myths and Political Use of Religion in Christian Democratic Culture,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 12 (2007): 313.

  23. 23.

    Pour l’Europe (Paris: Les Éditions Nagel, 1963), 202. Le government français propose de placer l’ensemble de la production franco-allemande de charbon et d’acier sous une Haute Autorité commune, dans une organization ouverte à la participation des autres pay d’Europe.

  24. 24.

    La démocratie doit son existence au christianisme. Elle est née le jour où l’homme a été appelé à réaliser dans sa vie temporelle la dignité de la personne humaine, dans la liberté individuelle, dans le respect des droits de chacun et par la pratique de l’amour fraternal à l’égard de tous. Jamais avant le Christ pareilles idées n’avaient été formulées.

  25. 25.

    Le veritable problème allemand est là: l’Allemagne acceptera-t-elle d’être un partenaire pacifique ou continuera-t-elle à être une menace plus ou moins latente?

  26. 26.

    Signifie un renouvellement organique de la politique allemande.

  27. 27.

    La mise en œvre de ce vaste programme d’une démocratie généralisée dans le sens chrétien du mot trouve son épanouissement dans la contruction de l’Europe. Déjà la Communauté du Charbon et de l’Acier, l’Euratom et le Marché Commun, avec la libre circulation des produits, des capitaux et des hommes, sont des institutions que modifient profondément et définitivement les relations entre les Etats associés.

  28. 28.

    Konrad Adenauer Stiftung website. “1946-03-24 University of Cologne.”

  29. 29.

    Wir nennen uns christliche Demokraten, weil wir der tiefen Überzeugung sind, dass nur eine Demokratie, die in der christlich-abendländischen Weltanschauung, in dem christlichen Naturrecht, in den Grundsätzen der christlichen Ethik wurzelt, die große erzieherische Aufgabe am deutschen Volke erfüllen und seinen Wiederaufstieg herbeiführen kann.

  30. 30.

    Wir nennen uns Union, weil wir alle diejenigen, die auf diesem Boden stehen, zu politischer Arbeit zusammenführen wollen, gleichgültig welchem Bekenntnis sie angehören.

  31. 31.

    Die Wirtschaft soll dem Menschen dienen, nicht der Mensch der Wirtschaft. Unsere grundsätzliche Auffassung verbietet es uns, als Sinn der Wirtschaft nur das ungehemmte Gewinnstreben des Einzelnen zu sehen. Die Wirtschaft hat sich dem Gemeinwohl unterzuordnen. Eine vernünftige Planung und Lenkung der Wirtschaft, ein ständiges Koordinieren der Kräfte in unserer Zeit ist unerlässlich.

  32. 32.

    Europa ist nur möglich, wenn eine Gemeinschaft der europäischen Völker wiederhergestellt wird, in der jedes Volk seinen unersetzlichen, unvertretbaren Beitrag zur europäischen Wirtschaft und Kultur, zum abendländischen Denken, Dichten und Gestalten liefert.

  33. 33.

    Ich bin deshalb in den Zwanziger Jahren für eine organische Verflechtung der französischen, der belgischen und der deutschen Wirtschaft zur Sicherung eines dauernden Friedens eingetreten, weil parallel laufende, gleichgeschaltete wirtschaftliche Interessen das gesundeste und dauerhafteste Fundament für gute politische Beziehungen zwischen den Völkern sind und immer bleiben werden.

  34. 34.

    Cary, Christian Democracy, 276.

  35. 35.

    Documents Pontificaux de sa Sainteté Pie XII (Paris: Saint-Maurice, 1948), 23. Que l’établissement d’une union européenne offre de sérieuses difficultés, personne n’en disconvient…Cependant, il n’y a pas de temps à perdre.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., 25. Personne, croyons-Nous, ne pourra refuser de souscrire à cette affirmation qu’une Europe unie, pour se maintenir en équilibre et pour aplanir les différends sur son propre continent—sans parler ici de son influence sur la sécurité de la paix universelle—a besoin de reposer sur un base morale inébranlable. Où la trouver cette base ? Laissons l’histoire répondre…l’âme de cette unité était la religion, qui imprégnait à fond toute la société de foi chrétienne.

  37. 37.

    Denmark and Great Britain joined the Single Market in 1973, and Sweden the EU in 1995. Icelandic and Norwegian participation in the European Economic Area dates from 1994.

  38. 38.

    Thus to Protestants, Francis (2013–) is merely the Bishop of Rome.

  39. 39.

    On the Freedom of a Christian, with Related Texts (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2013), 8.

  40. 40.

    On Secular Authority (Von Weltlicher Oberkeit (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, [1523] 1991), 15.

  41. 41.

    Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian, 117.

  42. 42.

    Ibid., 121.

  43. 43.

    John Knox (1513–1572) meanwhile introduced a version of Calvinism in Scotland, where it remains the established church (kirk). He was however more an evangelist than political theorist, with the majority of his writings of an occasional nature. See On Rebellion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).

  44. 44.

    William Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man (New York: Penguin, [1528] 2000), 24.

  45. 45.

    William Tyndale, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1983).

  46. 46.

    Kent, Concise History of Sweden, 59.

  47. 47.

    All offentlig makt i Sverige utgår från folket. Den svenska folkstyrelsen bygger på fri åsiktsbildning och på allmån och lika rösträtt. Den förverkligas genom ett reprsentativt och parlamentariskt statsskick och genom kommunal självstyrelse.

  48. 48.

    England has no written constitution, but about a dozen statutes, mostly from the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, predominate. This empirical challenge is confronted in Chapter 7.

  49. 49.

    To review, Great Britain was coded as “Protestant” because it simultaneously establishes the Anglican and Presbyterian systems, and all five Nordic countries emerged as “Protestant Lutheran.”

  50. 50.

    “The Nordics, the EU, and the Reluctance Towards Supranational Judicial Review,” Journal of Common Market Studies 48 (2010): 1060. Apparent aversion to supranational jurisprudence is not of course solely exhibited among Protestant countries: the German Constitutional Court, in particular has long been at variance with the EU tribunal in various ways (Herdegen 1994; Zuleeg 1997). The argument, however, is that Protestant political theology has in some instances informed such opposition.

  51. 51.

    Andalucía participará en los procesos de decisión en las instituciones de la Unión Europea directamente o a través de la representación del Estado.

  52. 52.

    Grundlagen des Lebens zu sichern, entschlossen, ein lebendiges, eigenständiges und gleichberechtigtes Glied der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in der europäischen Völkergemeinschaft zu sein, im Wissen um die Grenzen menschlichen Tuns, haben sich die Bürger Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns auf der Grundlage des Grundgesetzes für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland in freier Selbstbestimmung diese Landesverfassunggegeben.

  53. 53.

    The best existing coverage is that of Tor Bjørklund, “The Three Nordic 1994 Referenda Concerning Membership in the EU,” Cooperation and Conflict 31 (1996): 11–36, who found that “yes” and “no” correlated respectively with metropolitan and rural areas.

  54. 54.

    Iceland terminated its accession negotiations and withdrew its application in 2015.

  55. 55.

    With respect exclusively to narrative history, the introductory volumes include Stephen George, An Awkward Partner: Britain in the European Community (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990); Hugo Young, This Blessed Plot: Britain and Europe from Churchill to Blair (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), and John W. Young, Britain and European Unity, 1945–1999 (New York: Overlook, 1999).

  56. 56.

    The Revivalist, February 1970.

  57. 57.

    The Times, 12 October 1988.

  58. 58.

    “My Farewell to Europe,” 18 May 2004. [http://www.ianpaisley.org].

  59. 59.

    Respectively, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism (New York: Penguin, [Die protestantische Ethik und der “Geist” des Kapitalismus, 1905] 2002); On Suicide (New York: Penguin, [1897] 2006); History as the Story of Liberty (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, [1938] 2000).

  60. 60.

    Finland was also the first Nordic country to incorporate (1990) the European Convention on Human Rights into its national law. Denmark followed suit in 1992, Sweden and Norway in 1994, and finally Iceland in 1995. See Ran Hirschl, “The Nordic Counternarrative: Democracy, Human Development, and Judicial Review,” International Journal of Constitutional Law 9 (2011): 459.

  61. 61.

    “The EU Referendum in Finland on 16 October 1994: A Vote for the West, Not for Maastricht,” Journal of Common Market Studies 33 (1995): 361–387.

  62. 62.

    Kirby, Concise History of Finland, 281.

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  1. Political Science, Northern Virginia Community College, Springfield, Virginia, USA

    Mark R. Royce

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Royce, M.R. (2017). Theology and Integration. In: The Political Theology of European Integration. Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53447-3_4

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