Forging Political Compromise

by Miller, Daniel E.

• ISBN13: 9780822940913
• ISBN10: 0822940914
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-07-01
• Publisher: Univ of Pittsburgh Pr

Summary

Historians have long claimed Czechoslovakia between the world wars as an island of democracy in a sea of dictatorships. The reasons for the survival of democratic institutions in the Czechoslovak First Republic, with its profound political, social, and economic divisions, have never been fully explained, partly because for years critical research was thwarted by the communist state. Forging Political Compromise provides the first detailed English-language investigation of Czechoslovakia during the intriguing interwar period that focuses primarily on the Agrarian or Republic party. Drawing on information from European archives, Miller pieces together the story of the party and its longtime leader, Antonin Svehla. Svehla, the "Master of Compromise", had an extraordinary capacity to mediate between political parties, factions, and individual political leaders. It was this ability, Miller maintains, that was essential to the establishment and maintenance of a democracy. Miller shows how Svehla's influence in the formation of cabinets, his official and behind-the-scenes activities in the parliament, and his personal charisma provided the new state with the stability and continuity necessary to cope with ethnic differences, political discord between socialist and "bourgeois" parties, and other factors that threatened its survival.

Author Biography

Daniel E. Miller is an associate professor of history at the University of West Florida in Pensacola

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	ix
Abbreviations	xi
Foreword	xiii
Introduction: Democracy in the Balance	1	(16)
The Beginnings of the Agrarian Party and the First Republic	17	(28)
Coalition-Building in the Early Years, 1918--1922	45	(41)
Uniting the Agrarian Movement, 1920--1922	86	(35)
The All-National Coalition, 1922--1926	121	(30)
Politics Through the Gentlemen's Coalition, 1926--1933	151	(54)
Conclusion: Czechoslovakia's Tradition of Compromise	185	(20)
Appendix 1: The Evolution of the Czechoslavonic Agrarian Party in the Habsburg Monarchy	205	(3)
Appendix 2: The Development of the Agrarian Movement in Czechoslovakia, 1918--1938	208	(4)
Appendix 3: The Administration of the Republican Party	212	(7)
Notes	219	(64)
Bibliography	283	(28)
Index	311