Authoritarianism and Democracy in Europe, 1919-39 : Comparative Analyses

by Berg-Schlosser, Dirk; Mitchell, Jeremy

• ISBN13: 9780333966068
• ISBN10: 0333966066
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-18
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Authoritarianism and Democracy in Europe, 1919-39 offers a comprehensive analysis of the survival or breakdown of democracy in interwar Europe. The contributors explore factors such as the historical, social-structural and political-cultural backgrounds of the policies that European countries attempted to implement to counter the world economic crisis of 1929. The analysis serves as an important backdrop for the assessment of current democratic developments in former communist Europe and highlights some of the problems and risks involved in the transition process.

Author Biography

Dirk Berg-Schlosser is Professor of Political Science at Philipps-University, Marburg.

Jeremy Mitchell is on the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Open University.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vii
List of Tables	viii
Notes on the Contributors	x
Preface	xi
List of Abbreviations	xii
Introduction	1	(6)
Dirk Berg-Schlosser
Part I Historical and Social Background
The Heritage of the First World War	7	(13)
Jerzy Holzer
Building Nations and Crafting Democracies -- Competing Legitimacies in Interwar Eastern Europe	20	(19)
Mark R. Thompson
Class Structure and Democratization	39	(25)
John D. Stephens
Gerhard Kummel
Sources of Authoritarianism in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe	64	(13)
Stephen Fischer-Galati
Part II The Social Arena: Major Forces and Actors
Organized Interests and their Patterns of Interaction	77	(24)
Allan Zink
The Role of Fascist Movements	101	(30)
Marco Tarchi
Part III The Political Arena
Electoral Systems, Party System Fragmentation and Government Instability	131	(32)
Lauri Karvonen
Sven Quenter
Political Institutions and Political Stability	163	(13)
Jeremy Mitchell
External Factors	176	(32)
Gerhard Kummel
The Impact of the World Economic Crisis and Political Reactions	208	(27)
Thomas Saalfeld
Part IV Overall Comparisons and Dynamic Analyses
Systematic Matching and Contrasting of Cases	235	(35)
Gisele De Meur
Dirk Berg-Schlosser
Reduction of Complexity	270	(15)
Dirk Berg-Schlosser
Gisele De Meur
Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analysis	285	(34)
Dirk Berg-Schlosser
Part V Conclusion
Implications for Theories of Democracy	319	(5)
Dirk Berg-Schlosser
Appendix: Definition of Variables (Boolean version)	324	(3)
Bibliography	327	(23)
Index	350