Kršćanske stranke u nordijskim zemljama
Christian Parties in Scandinavian Countries

Summary/Abstract: The paper highlights the remarkable religious homogeneity and the much evolved secularization of Scandinavian societies as the distinguishing features of these countries. These traits explain why Christian parties in northern Europe have remained relatively minor as compared to their counterparts in other European countries. Christian parties (except, perhaps, in Norway) are of a rather recent date in Scandinavian countries (in 1933 in Norway, in 1958 in Finland, in 1964 in Sweden and in 1970 in Denmark) and have not shaped nor deeply influenced the development of Scandinavian democracy as a political system or a lifestyle. Christian parties in Scandinavia emerged at the time when the democratic systems of these countries had already developed and the electorate had already struck in with one party or another. The author claims that Christian parties in Scandinavian countries came into being as a sort of moral and ethic protest at the time of a rapid cultural secularization, the role they have more or less retained up to now. The emergence of these parties went somewhat against the grain. First, they emerged in religiously homogeneous and conflict-free societies. Second, despite the fact that almost 90 percent of the populations of these countries belongs to the Lutheran state church, their support for Christian parties has been relatively low. Although minor in the numbers of votes they get, the role of Christian parties in the political life of these countries is far from negligible, which has been corroborated by their inclusion as partners in the coalition governments (today in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, and formerly in Norway).

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