Churches as (New) Partners in Welfare? Political Parties and Religious Organizations in Social Policy in Western and Eastern Europe

Due to the processes of decentralization and marketization in social policy, in many European countries political parties have identified religious organizations (again) as potential socio-political actors which may fill the gaps the state has left. At the same time, religious organizations themselves have been increasingly aware of their possible (renewed) role they might be able to play in the sphere of public welfare. This holds for their role as both providers of welfare services and political players in decision-making processes on welfare issues. Comparing Eastern and Western European countries this paper examines in a discourse analysis to what extent political parties and religious organizations conceive of each other and act as partners in social policy. The paper shows that although both in Eastern and Western Europe religious organizations have increasingly been involved in welfare in the East – unlike their counterparts in the west – Social Democrats have remained sceptic about an increased role of churches in the public sphere in general and welfare politics in particular. Simultaneously, religious organizations in Eastern Europe rather tend to look for cooperation with conservative parties only whereas in Western Europe both Christian/Conservative and Social Democratic parties are perceived as potential partners. The project is particularly based on a qualitative analysis of more than 30 semi-structured interviews conducted with representatives from (right and left wing) politicians and (Protestant and Catholic) religious welfare organizations in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in 2016.