Syllabus
1st meeting, 10.10.2012
Introduction 2nd meeting, 17.10.2012
Overview I.: Central and Eastern Europe between the Wars 3rd meeting, 24.10.2012
Overview II: Economy and society in Central and Eastern Europe between the wars 4th meeting, 31.10.2012
Democracy in interwar Central and Eastern Europe I.: Political and party systems, pressure groups and political culture 5th meeting, 07.11.2012
Intellectuals and intellectual currents in interwar Central and Eastern Europe 6th meeting, 14.11.2012
An enemy from the "left": Soviet Communism and left-wing movements in Central and Eastern Europe 7th meeting, 21.11.2012
An enemy from the "right": Italian Fascism and right-wing movements in Central and Eastern Europe 8th meeting, 28.11.2012
Democracy without democrats: The rise of National Socialism and Communism in Germany 9th meeting, 05.12.2012
Democracy in interwar Central and Eastern Europe II.: Modes of conflict resolution and stabilizing democracy (social policy, corporatism, …) 10th meeting, 12.12.2012
A look across the Baltic: Social engineering and the concept of "Folkhemmet" (people’s home) in Sweden 11th meeting, 19.12.2012
Comparison: Why did democracy fail in most states but remain in Czechoslovakia? 12th meeting, 02.01.2013
Closing discussion: What is to be learned from the failure of democracy in interwar Europe?
Annotation
When the Central and East European Empires broke down as a result oft he First World War and new „national“ states emerged in their place, it seemed that democratic systems would be established all over the region. The emerging states received democratic constitutions and their economy was based on liberal market principles, while social policy of different kinds was intended to balance differences in wealth and income and to integrate the poorer strata into the democratic systems. Two decades later, however, all Central and East European States had
– with the prominent exception of Czechoslovakia – more or less authoritarian regimes, ranging from moderate authoritarianism in Poland and Hungary through the Presidential dictatorships in the Baltic states to Hitler’s and
Stalin’s “totalitarian” regimes in Germany and the Soviet Union, they had state interference in the economy and – in some instances – far-reaching social programs intended to legitimize the regimes.
In the seminar we will examine the conditions of democracy in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe between the world wars – Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Baltic states.
We will start with an introductory survey of the region and its political, social and economic structures and the predominant cleavages, shaping the political landscape. Then we will examine the constitutional and political systems of the Central and Eastern European states and their practical performance. In the next step we will ask, from which sides democracy came under attack (communist, fascist and right-wing movements), how they acted, from where they borrowed their ideas and which implications all this had for international relations. Then we will take a closer look at economic and social measures aimed at legitimizing the democratic regimes and finally we will ask, what were the reasons for the success of democracy’s enemies or why democracy persisted.