Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe

✍ Scribed by Giovanni Capoccia

• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 346
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

How does a democracy deal with threats to its stability and continued existence when those threats come from political parties that play the democratic game? In Defending Democracy, political scientist Giovanni Capoccia studies key European nations between World Wars I and II which survived such democratic crises.A comprehensive and thoughtful historical analysis of the democracies of interwar Europe, Defending Democracy provides a unique perspective on the many lessons to be learned from their successes and failures. With this exclusively empirical investigative approach, Capoccia develops a methodology for analyzing contemporary democracies -- such as Algeria, Turkey, Israel, and others -- where similar political conditions are present. Given the rise of terrorism and the persistence of extremism in both established and new democracies today, continued research and dialogue on the defense of democracy are necessary for its preservation.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 6
Tables and Figures......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 10
PART I: The Theoretical Framework......Page 12
1 Democratic Stability and Democratic Crisis......Page 14
2 The Challenges: Antisystem Parties......Page 38
3 The Defense: Strategies against Extremism......Page 58
PART II: Case Studies......Page 80
4 Czechoslovakia......Page 82
5 Belgium......Page 119
6 Finland......Page 149
PART III: Comparative Perspectives......Page 188
7 Defense of Democracy: Actors and Strategies in Comparative Perspective......Page 190
8 Conclusion......Page 232
Appendix A: Party Names and Translations......Page 258
Appendix B: Government Coalitions and Alignments in Presidential Elections......Page 260
Appendix C: Anti-extremist Legislation in Czechoslovakia, Finland, and Belgium......Page 267
Notes......Page 276
Bibliography......Page 310
A......Page 336
C......Page 337
F......Page 338
G......Page 339
K......Page 340
N......Page 341
P......Page 342
S......Page 343
V......Page 345
Z......Page 346