Governing Divided Societies

Habsburg Austria’s Democratic Legacy and the Czechoslovak First Republic

Inbunden, Engelska, 2025

AvPhilip J. Howe,Thomas A. Lorman,Daniel E. Miller,Philip (Adrian College) Howe,Thomas (University College London) Lorman,Daniel (University in West Florida in Pensacola) Miller,Philip Howe,Thomas Lorman

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The authors of this volume challenge conventional notions about Habsburg and Czechoslovak politics, arguing that they were more democratic than they often appear. At combining political science and history, the authors’ guiding principle and means of analysis is the consociational model of democracy. This theory, linked best to Arend Lijphart, asserts that consociationalism guarantees minorities a say in government and helps preserve democracy in societies that experience deep ideological, cultural, or ethnic divisions. It enables the main segments to be isolated organizationally from each other, thus avoiding conflict, and affording the leaders to make compromises for the good of the whole. Consociationalism has proven its worth as a model for describing contemporary democracies and diagnosing their ills. By exploring the institutions and practices of the Habsburg Monarchy before 1918 and the Czechoslovak First Republic, Howe, Lorman, and Miller prove the value of the consociational theory at analyzing the past. They hold that a multitude of parties, frequent cabinet changes, and reliance on circles of experts do not necessarily signal flawed democracies, when, in fact, they are features of consociationalism. This book is a call to specialists to view current politics not just in terms of majoritarian democracy but rather by the standard of the consociational democracies.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2025-03-15
Mått152 x 229 x undefined mm
Vikt835 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor440
FörlagCentral European University Press
ISBN9789633865859

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TablesIllustrationsList of AbbreviationsPrefaceIntroductionChapter 1: Consociationalism and Consensus Democracy in Theory and PracticeIntroductionThe Development of the Consociational ModelThe ModelNine Conditions Favorable to ConsociationalismConsociationalism and Its CriticsMajoritarian and Consensus DemocracyConclusionChapter 2: The Development of Consociationalism in Imperial AustrianIntroductionHistorical Background and TerminologyFavorable and Unfavorable Conditions for Consociational Democracy in Imperial AustriaImperial Austria as a Semi-Democratic, Proto-Consociational Political SystemRegional Compromises as Semi-Democratic ConsociationalismHistorians’ Criticisms, National Flexibility and the Institutionalization of EthnicityConclusionChapter 3: Czechoslovakia as a Consociational DemocracyIntroductionThe Diplomatic Career of Lewis EinsteinThe Favorable Conditions for Consociational Democracy in CzechoslovakiaThe Components of Consociational Democracy in CzechoslovakiaConclusionChapter 4: The Consociational Model and Interwar SlovakiaIntroductionThe Favorable Conditions for Consociational Democracy in SlovakiaThe Benefits of ParticipationThe Components of Consociational Democracy in SlovakiaConclusionChapter 5: ConclusionEvidence of Consociationalism in Central EuropeContributions to Consociational TheoryHistorical Approaches to ConsociationalismBiographies of the AuthorsIndex