Caritist Social Union

The Caritist Social Union is a caucus of political parties and independent politicians in the Kiravian Stanora united by and  ideals. The Caritists are the currently the second-largest caucus in the Stanora, and are the leading party in opposition to the ruling Shaftonist-Republican Alliance.

History
Coscivian civilisation has a long history of religiously-inspired political movements seeking social and economic justice, beginning with demands for peasants'rights in Ancient Eskea lead by Komarist clerics, continuing to the social movements to improve the welfare of women, orphans, the poor, and the mentally ill that expanded with the rise of Ruricanism in Western Éorsa, and finally coming to full force with the arrival of Christianity in the Northwest Islands. The ethnic Ensciryan communities that gave Christianity its first converts in Coscivia gave the Church a central role in their society not only as a moral and spiritual authority, but also as an institution for education, healthcare, and support for the economically disadvantaged. Although the organic, communitarian nature of the Church weakened as Christianity spread into Western, Southern, and Central Éorsa where state institutions were better established, the state was still conceived of primarily as a mechanism for providing security and upholding law and order, and the majority of social services were undertaken by Christian, Rurican, or other religious orders.

-Indigenous Coscivian Christian Humanists-

-Contact with Western ideas- -Rise of Distributism- -Opposition to Kirosocialism- [Union of Orthodox Parishes, Christian Democratic Party, International Christian Democratic Appeal] [Christo-socialist lists] [Coöperation with Muslim lists] -Post-Kirosocialism-

The term "Caritist" is an Occidentalised back-translation of Karitarisēn, from the Latin caritas ("") + the common Coscivian suffix -risēn ("doctrine", "-ism"). The term emerged in writings circulated at Catholic institutes of learning in the 1800s AD in reference to the humanitarian praxis of. Although the term in its original and academic sense is not specific to politics and does not describe a political ideology senu stricto, in modern karitarisēn has taken on a meaning of "religious humanitarianism" or "religious (centre-)left" in Kiravian political culture.

Economics
The Caritist Social Union claims a platform based on and  thought, with influences from, and the  on certain issues and within certain factions. In its contemporary position, the CSU acts mainly to represent the concerns many Kiravians have about the agenda pursued by the Shaftonist-Republican Alliance and the effects of market liberalism on social solidarity and public morals. Broadly speaking, it occupies the economic centre-left space of the Kiravian political field, advocating a more expressly humanistic approach to economic policy, characterised by more widespread ownership of productive property and housing, decentralisation, class collaboration, a preponderance of small and medium enterprises, a communitarian approach to social welfare and public services, and "more humane" labour laws. Most CSU members endorse the as the best policy framework for Kiravia, while the largest minority current seeks an economic structure closer to classical distributism, endorsing the Urcean Model Economy as framework for undertaking this transition. The economic right flank of the caucus has been described as, the , or "neoliberalism with a human face"; while the left flank endorses verging on.

[More specifics] [e.g. labour policy]

Social Policy
Inspired by Christian ethics (particularly ), the CSU holds strong positions on bioethics and on life issues. While all of the major caucuses in Kiravian politics can be considered socially conservative by modern Western standards, the CSU is more keen on upholding public morality through legislation than the SRA, CNC, or KFA. It supports the abolition of capital punishment for "ordinary domestic crimes in cases where life imprisonment would not endanger the public", and a federal prohibition on in vitro fertilisation.

Stated Policy Goals
Although the CSU itself is only a political actor on the federal level, it also serves as a consultative and cooperative forum for member-parties and independent members participating in the governance of the various federal subjects. As such, the common platforms adopted at CSU triennial conferences address policies to be pursued on both the national and state levels.


 * Reintroduce to the Fundamental Statute (constitution), in order to compel the federal government of uphold social and economic justice and the dignity of the human person.
 * "Forty acres, a cow, and a broadband connection" - Distributism for the digital age.
 * Introduce stronger protections for genetic privacy and stronger safeguards against genetic discrimination, including adding a right to genetic privacy to the Statute of Liberties.
 * Reform tax codes (state and federal) and incorporation laws to incentivise the creation of
 * Reform financial regulations to curb, reduce leverage, and promote the proliferation of
 * Introduce targeted initiatives for gradual in areas where oligopolies on agricultural land are arresting economic and human development.
 * Promote government investment and research in the field of renewable energy

Voter Base
As the second-largest caucus in the Federal Stanora, the CSU draws on a large popular support base, embracing many sectors of Kiravian society.

Tenant farmers

Regional strongholds for the SRA include the deeply Catholic Rosary Belt region of Farravonia, Catholic and developing Sarolasta, and New Ardmore.

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In religious terms, the core of the CSU base are Coscivian Rite Christians, whether affiliated with the Coscivian Catholic Church or Coscivian Orthodox Church. Among Coscivian Catholics, voter loyalty to the CSU increases with measures of religious observance, while among the Coscivian Orthodox it correlates more strongly with income and location (urban rather than rural). Latin-Rite Catholics overwhelmingly favour the CSU as well, even more so than their Coscivian-Rite brothers in Christ. CSU parties have made inroads with Insular Apostolic Christians (who lean SRA overall), especially in urban areas, and CSU affiliates are important contenders on the provincial level in many majority-Apostolic provinces.

Kēbavem (Coscivian Muslims) in the South and Southwest tend to favour the Reservatives-Conformists and in the North and Overseas tend to favour the Shaftonist-Republicans. However, the CSU does attract the second-largest share of the Kēvbavem vote in both regions. It is more competitive among non-Coscivian Muslims, and is strongly favoured by Rumeli Muslims of both Coscivian and non-Coscivian background.

After the collapse of the Green Party, many Bahá'ís shifted to the CSU column.

CSU parties do not perform as quite as well with voters who adhere to a Coscivian religion are their sole or primary faith tradition. Outreach efforts toward Ruricans have yielded mixed results and been largely unsuccessful in the Northeast (home to the largest non-syncretic Rurican populations), where voters strongly associate the CSU parties with working class People Nation Coscivians and Levantine immigrants. However, Christian ethno-social communities for whom Ruricanism is a heritage religion cast a greater share of their votes for CSU candidates than other Christian communities of the same denomination and IDLD rating.

Ethno-social groups with particularly strong CSU voting patterns include Serradans; Peninsular Coscivians and other R-Coscivians such as Kastrovans, Lusans, Síkutrans; Levantine-Kiravians, and H.

OLD: Ethno-social groups with particularly strong CSU voting patterns include the urban working class, Peninsular Coscivians, Deep South Coscivians, Ardóniem and Buryóniem Coscivians, Kastrovan Coscivians, Lusem Coscivians, Roman Catholics (excepting Traditionalists, who lean more towards the CoR), Síkutem and Southern Peninsular Coscivians, Woolzi-Kiravians, Serradem and Aboriginal tribes practising Catholicism, enfranchised colonial natives, Éilpanem of the St. Margaret Islands, monoreligious Ruricans, middle-class families in micropolitan and semi-rural areas, Methodists, high-church Lutherans, and members of small non-Coscivian religious minorities.

The CSU performs well among farmers with small to medium landholdings, especially the sirētur class of investor-farmers in the Mid-Oceanic states. Larger landowners are more likely to favour Caucus of Justice affiliated parties. In some CSU parties are competitive among tenant farmers, landless agricultural labourers, and poorer landowning farmers in the inland states, but these tend to vote for a wider range of parties, including the Social Credit Party, smaller agrarian parties affiliated with the KFA, and Kisosocialist parties.

The CSU collects the largest share of the non-Coscivian vote, a fact attributed to its positive stance towards colonial natives and the economic lower classes that non-Coscivians in Kiravia are concentrated in, as well as its stronger universalistic ethos drawing on Christian and humanistic principles. This contrasts with the wholesale Coscivian nationalism of the CNC, softer civilisational rhetoric of the SRA, and the Caucus of Justice's dedication to ethnosocial, regional, tribal, and Coscivian identities. It also performs best with female voters. -->