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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2018

Western Michigan University

Dissertations

Catholic Studies

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Catholic Church And Its Impact On Public Policy In Contemporary Democracies, Dawid Tatarczyk Jun 2018

The Catholic Church And Its Impact On Public Policy In Contemporary Democracies, Dawid Tatarczyk

Dissertations

The overarching aim of this dissertation was to examine the extent to which the Catholic Church is still a significant public policy actor in 35 economically developed democracies. The research design used in this project draws on three distinct approaches, each addressing a different puzzle but when integrated together they provide an answer to the main question. Taken together these three approaches show that the Catholic Church continues to be an important political institution with considerable influence even in economically developed democracies.

The rational choice institutionalism paradigm is used to explain the political behavior of the Catholic Church. The paradigm …