History/Political Science paper by Zachar, Péter Krisztián
Panel Proposal: The History of Hungarian Christian Democratic Movements 1930-1970. II.The Forming of a Modern Christian Democracy in Hungary: Győr 1943 and Beyond (Accepted)
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
One of the most intense, yet not fully explored periods of modern Hungarian intellectual history can be found between the two world wars. This is largely true of the Catholic, Jesuit-driven economic and political thinking of the Church's social teaching, within which Hungarian sociologists, theologians, and economists joined a very broad European discourse and sought to elaborate a new, traditional conceptualization of the state. From the first minute on, the personalities of Béla Kovrig, Vid Mihelics, Zoltán Magyary, József Freesz, László Varga, Sándor Meggyesi or Jenő Kerkai were among the most influential figures in the scientific debate. Alongside them, a dozen mostly Catholic thinkers expressed their views and ideas on the contemporary socio-economic crisis and how it can be overcome by Catholic solutions. Especially in times of spreading totalitarian ideas, they held on to a new democratic state structure and wanted to reform the whole state through vocational order and a new social economic concept. One of the most important steps towards a new Christian Democracy in Hungary was the secret meeting in Győr in August 1943 and the launching of the Katolikus Szociális Népmozgalom (Catholic Social People's Movement). The study provides an insight into these developments, into the ideas on state and politics of early Christian Democracy and its connections to the ideas of vocational order in Hungary.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Péter Krisztián Zachar, Phd, habil. is a Hungarian historian, associate professor, head of the Department for International Relations and Diplomacy at the National University of Public Service. His major field of research is the history of the 19th and 20th century in Central Europe, the history of advocacy organisations, e.g. chambers, the theoretical background of social partnership, the catholic social thought and the history of international relations. In previous years he participated in several Hungarian National Science Research Projects (OTKA) and was the leader of the OTKA-research group „Economic and social reform-concepts and social models in the interwar period”.