Sardaryan G.T. The concept and essence of the principle of subsidiarity in the political thought of Europe and Catholic social teaching

Abstract: The subject of this research is subsidiarity, as a principle of political-territorial structure within the context of decentralization of government power. The author gives an in-depth review to the social teaching of the Catholic Church and Protestant ethics upon the formation of perception in the Western political thought on the acceptable level of state involvement and preference towards greater decentralization of government power. A special attention is given to the demarcation of the notion “horizontal subsidiarity”, which is more likely sharing of responsibility with the institutions of civil society. Within the framework of the review of the “vertical subsidiarity” a separate attention is given to the Catholic perception on correlation of authority and society, as well as society and individual. The novelty of this research consists in the examination of the form of political-territorial construct as a system subject to a substantial influence of the religious factor. The work presents the translation of several encyclicals of Roman Popes, which reflect the key principles of state functionality in the perception of the Catholic social doctrine during the end of the XIX – beginning of the XX centuries.

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