Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy

Zusammenfassung How do democracies form and what makes them die? In a wide-ranging narrative of democracy's history in Europe, from 1830s Britain to Adolf Hitler's 1933 seizure of power in Weimar Germany, the book offers a re-interpretation of how stable political democracy is built, coming to the bold conclusion that democracy's historical adversaries, conservative political parties, shape democracy's viability.

Autorentext

Daniel Ziblatt is Professor of Government at Harvard University, Massachusetts where he is also a resident fellow of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies. He is also currently Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence. His first book, Structuring the State: The Formation of Italy and Germany and the Puzzle of Federalism (2006) received several prizes from the American Political Science Association. He has also written extensively on the emergence of democracy in European political history, publishing in journals such as American Political Science Review, the Journal of Economic History, and World Politics. Ziblatt has held visiting fellowships and professorships at Sciences Po, Paris; the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Germany; Stanford University, California; the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Massachusetts; and the Center for Advanced Studies, Munich, Germany.

Klappentext

A bold re-interpretation of democracy's historical rise in Europe, Ziblatt highlights the surprising role of conservative political parties with sweeping implications for democracy today.

Inhalt

1. Two patterns of democratization; 2. The old regime and the conservative dilemma; 3. From 1688 to mass politics: British democratization; 4. A virtuous cycle? Conservative strength and Britain's settled path, 188406; 5. Averting a democratic disaster in Britain, 190622; 6. Weak party conservatism and the case of Germany; 7. Stalled democratization in Germany before 1914; 8. The unsettled path: conservative weakness in Weimar Germany, 191828; 9. A deluge: conservative weakness and democratic breakdown in Germany; 10. How countries democratize: Europe and beyond; 11. Conclusion.