Catholicism and the Support for European Integration: A Critique of the Methodological Underpinnings

Rosita Garškaitė

doi:10.21697/CSP.2021.25.1.12

Published: 2021-08-27

No. 25 (2021)

Catholicism and the Support for European Integration: A Critique of the Methodological Underpinnings

Rosita Garškaitė

Christianity-World-Politics

Section: Miscellanea

https://doi.org/10.21697/CSP.2021.25.1.12

Abstract

It has long been argued that a special relationship between Catholicism and European integration exists. Yet, the scholarly discussion of its meaning has seldom gone beyond statistical analyses that show robust correlations, but cannot provide an understanding of why and when Catholics tend to choose commitment to European Union over skepticism or indifference to it. Three philosophical arguments are presented in the paper which indicate the flaws of positivist research and show how an interpretivist approach could shed light on the topic studied.

Keywords:

Catholicism, European integration, European Union, Positivism, Interpretivism

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Garškaitė, R. (2021). Catholicism and the Support for European Integration: A Critique of the Methodological Underpinnings. Christianity-World-Politics, (25). https://doi.org/10.21697/CSP.2021.25.1.12

Cited by / Share

References

Austin J. L. (1970), A Plea for Excuses: The Presidential Address, “Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society”, 57, pp. 1-30.
Berger P. L., Luckmann T. (1966), The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Berger P. L. (1967), The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion, Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Boomgaarden H. G., Freire A. (2009), Religion and Euroscepticism: Direct, Indirect or No Effects?, “West European Politics”, 32(6), pp. 1240-1265.
Chelini-Pont B. (2009), Papal Thought on Europe and the European Union in the Twentieth Century, “Religion, State & Society”, 37(1-2), pp. 131-146.
Ejrnæs A., Jensen M. D. (2019), Divided but united: explaining nested public support for European integration, “West European Politics”, 42(7), pp. 1390-1419.
Evans M. (2003), The Principle of Subsidiarity as a Social and Political Principle in Catholic Social Teaching, “Solidarity: The Journal of Catholic Social Thought and Secular Ethics”, 3(1), pp. 44-60.
Foret F., Schlesinger P. (2006), Political Roof and Sacred Canopy?: Religion and the EU Constitution, “European Journal of Social Theory”, 9(1), pp. 59–81.
Foret F. (2015), Religion and Politics in the European Union: The Secular Canopy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Geertz C. (1973), The Interpretation of Cultures, New York: Basic Books.
Grötsch F., Schnabel A. (2012), Integration – What integration?, “European Societies”, 14(4), pp. 586-610.
Guerra S. (2016), When Catholicism meets the EU: it’s not always Euroenthusiasm, “Politologia”, 1, pp. 25-45.
Hagevi M. (2002), Religiosity and Swedish Opinion on the European Union, “Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion”, 41(4), pp. 759–769.
Hamerly I. (2012), Christian Democratic Parties and the Domestic Parliamentary Response to European Integration, “Journal of Church & State”, 54(2), pp. 214-239.
Hobolt S. B., de Vries C. E. (2016), Public Support for European Integration, “Annual Review of Political Science”, 19, pp. 413–432.
Kolpinskaya E., Fox S. (2019), Praying on Brexit? Unpicking the Effect of Religion on Support for European Union Integration and Membership, “Journal of Common Market Studies”, 57(3), pp. 580–598.
Kratochvíl P., Doležal T. (2015), The European Union and the Catholic Church: Political Theology of European Integration, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Lazić M., Jerez-Mir M., Vuletić V., Vázquez-Garcia R. (2012), Patterns of Regional Diversity in Political Elites’ Attitudes [in:] Best H., Lengyel G., Verzichelli L. (ed.), The Europe of Elites: A Study into the Europeanness of Europe’s Political and Economic Elites, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 167-191.
Loughlin J. (2015), European integration: a Catholic perspective, [in:] Chaplin J., Wilton G. (ed.) God and the EU: Retrieving the Christian Inspirations of the European Project, London: Routledge, pp. 43-56.
MacIntyre A. (1962), A Mistake about Causality in the Social Sciences, [in:] Laslett P., Runciman W. G. (ed.) Philosophy, Politics and Society, Oxford: Blackwells, pp. 48-70.
Marquardt P. D. (1994), Subsidiarity and Soverignty in the European Union, “Fordham International Law Journal”, 18(2), pp. 616-640.
McCann M. (1996), Causal versus Constitutive Explanations (or, On the Difficulty of Being so Positive...), “Law & Social Inquiry”, 21(2), pp. 457-482.
Mudrov S. A. (2015), Religion and the European Union: Attitudes of Catholic and Protestant Churches toward European Integration, “Journal of Church and State”, 57(3), pp. 507–528.
Mudrov S. A. (2016), Religion in the Treaty of Lisbon: Aspects and Evaluation, “Journal of Contemporary Religion”, 31 (1), pp. 1-16.
Nelsen B. F., Guth J. L., F, Cleveland R. (2001), Does Religion Matter? Christianity and Public Support for the European Union, “European Union Politics”, 2(2), pp. 191-217.
Nelsen B. F., Guth J. L., Highsmith B. (2010), Does Religion Still Matter? Religion and Public Attitudes toward Integration in Europe, “Politics and Religion”, 4(1), pp. 1-26.
Nelsen B. F., Guth J. L. (2015), Religion and the Struggle for European Union: Confessional Culture and the Limits of Integration, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Nelsen B. F., Guth J. L. (2016), Religion and the Creation of European Identity: The Message of the Flags, “The Review of Faith & International Affairs”, 14(1), pp. 80-88.

Ramet S. P. (2006), Thy will be done: the Catholic Church and politics in Poland since 1989, [in:] Byrnes T. A., Katzenstein P. J. (ed.), Religion in an Expanding Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 117-147.
Scherer M. (2015), The Religious Context in Explaining Public Support for the European Union, “Journal of Common Market Studies”, 53(4), pp. 893–909.
Scherer M. (2020), Euroscepticism and Protestant Heritage: The Role of Religion on EU Issue Voting, “Politics and Religion”, 13, pp. 119–149.
Spohn W., Koenig M., Knöbl W. (2015), Religion and National Identities in an Enlarged Europe, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Szumigalska A. (2015), The Polish Catholic Church’s perception of the processes of EU integration and Europeanisation in the context of traditional norms and values, “Religion, State & Society”, 43(4), pp. 342-356.
Taylor Ch. (1971), Interpretation and the Sciences of Man, “Review of Metaphysics”, 25 (1), pp. 3-51.
Winch P. (1958), The Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Wuthnow R. (2007), Cognition and Religion. 2006 Paul Hanly Furfey Lecture, “Sociology of Religion”, 68 (4), pp. 344-350. Google Scholar