Cec and What Future for Europe Report. Cec’s Answer to the Future of European Integration. A Case for Churches State Capacity?

Henri Aaltonen, University of Helsinki

What future for Europe project of the CEC and its member churches was initiated in 2016. (https://ceceurope.org/what-we-do/open-letter/) The aim was to get the Conference of European Churches (CEC’s) and its member churches idea of EU and how can the churches have a sustainable and open solutions for Europe. (https://ceceurope.org/storage/app/media/uploads/2016/06/1GB2016_Doc15-Open-letter-Future-of-Europe.pdf) The aims were more just and faith related Europe and the EU. Interesting was to notice that the CEC and its members had an opinion and view to cohesion policies, in the form of Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), thus making the rural areas important for the churches through identity and thriving rural areas. (https://ceceurope.org/storage/app/media/uploads/2016/06/1GB2016_Doc15-Open-letter-Future-of-Europe.pdf page 5 and https://www.kath-buero.de/files/Kath_theme/Stellungnahmen/2012/2012Mai25_engl_COMECE-CEC-EKD-KATH%20BURO_Joint%20position%20EN%20final-1.pdf page 1-2) Previous studies have emphasised state capacity mostly as an economic phenomenon. They have dealt with it primarily by using information on state income and taxing figures and the growth of their influence within a particular state (Dincecco, 2017; Dincecco & Onorato, 2018) Research has also been done on political regimes and their impact on state capacity (Karaman & Pamuk, 2013) One recent study focuses on the long legacy of good governance and the positive impact of state capacity in creating a well-functioning civil society. (Pavlik & Young, 2020). However, the role of churches in the development of state capacity has been neglected in the previous literature. (Knuutila, 2010; Johnson & Koyama, 2019; Möller, 2018, 2019) The theoretical analysis of state capacity (SC) has the potential to provide more for the importance of organisations, and their development is at the heart of state capacity theory. By focusing on the advocacy work or like in this paper on CEC role in the EU discussion through Future of Europe(FoE), the study highlights how institutional advocacy in the EU contributes to European integration, thus making it part of contemporary state capacity efforts.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 172. Religion, State Formation and Political Authority