THE CRISIS OF CHRISTIAN RELIGIOSITY AS A CONTRIBUTION TO POL ITICAL CHANGES IN EUROPE IN THE YEARS 1991–2022

Abstract

The crisis of religiosity among Christians, which has been evident for years in Western European countries such as France and the Benelux countries, is also reaching the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The decline in the number of believers implies the need to adapt the party system and political parties to the new reality, in the face of changes in voter expectations. The research problem underlying the article is the relationship between the crisis of Christian religiosity in Europe and changes within party systems and parties themselves in selected European countries. The research question is as follows: ‘Is there a relationship between the crisis of Christian religiosity in Europe and changes within the party systems of these countries?’. The author arrives at interesting conclusions through a comparative analysis of the party systems of selected Western European countries and selected Central and Eastern European countries and an analysis of the changes in these systems over the years, as well as a critical analysis of survey research on the level of religiosity of their populations.