ISBN:
9780198023074
Language:
English
Pages:
1 online resource (431 pages)
Parallel Title:
Erscheint auch als
Parallel Title:
Print version Liberalism, Fascism, or Social Democracy : Social Classes and the Political Origins of Regimes in Interwar Europe
DDC:
306.2/094
Keywords:
Fascism History
;
Social structure History
;
Socialism History
;
Labor movement History
;
Liberalism History
;
Democracy History
;
Democracy ; History
;
Europe ; Politics and government ; 1871-1918
;
Fascism ; Europe ; History
;
Labor movement ; Europe ; History
;
Liberalism ; Europe ; History
;
Social structure ; Europe ; History
;
Socialism ; Europe ; History
;
Electronic books
;
Europe Politics and government 1871-1918
;
Europe Politics and government 20th century
Abstract:
This work provides a sweeping historical analysis of the political development of Western Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Arguing that the evolution of most Western European nations into liberal democracies, social democracies, or fascist regimes was attributable to a discrete set of social class alliances, the author explores the origins and outcomes of the political development in the individual nations. In Britain, France, and Switzerland, countries with a unified middle class, liberal forces established political hegemony before World War I. By coopting considerable sections of the working class with reforms that weakened union movements, liberals essentially excluded the fragmented working class from the political process, remaining in power throughout the inter-war period. In countries with a strong, cohesive working class and a fractured middle class, Luebbert points out, a liberal solution was impossible. In Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Czechoslovakia, political coalitions of social democrats and the "family peasantry" emerged as a result of the First World War, leading to social democratic governments. In Italy, Spain, and Germany, on the other hand, the urban middle class united with a peasantry hostile to socialism to facilitate the rise of fascism.
Abstract:
Intro -- Contents -- 1. Introduction -- I: THE ORIGINS -- 2. Ties That Would Divide: Liberal-Labor Alliances in Britain, France, and Switzerland before the War -- Britain -- France -- Weakness of the Labor Movement in Britain and France -- Switzerland -- Epilogue -- 3. Cleavage Structures and the Failure of Liberal Movements in Late Nineteenth-Century Europe -- Liberal Weakness: A Survey -- Some Explanations of Liberal Weakness -- Cleavage Structures and the Failure of Liberal Movements -- Modernization, Cleavages, and Political Struggles -- Where Backwardness Mattered -- Epilogue -- 4. The Break with Liberalism and the Formation of Working-Class Movements -- Abortive Lib-Labism and the Rise of Working-Class Movements -- Germany -- Norway -- Sweden -- Denmark -- Belgium and the Netherlands -- Italy -- Spain -- Imperialism, Nationalism, and Class Integration -- A Note on Leadership and Choice -- Epilogue -- 5. The Organization of Workers: Liberal and Aliberal Societies Compared -- Parties -- Trade Unions: Membership and Organizational Coherence -- A Note on Industrial Concentration -- A Note on the Role of the State -- Epilogue: Toward the Great War -- II: THE OUTCOMES -- 6. War, Crisis, and the Stabilization of the Liberal Order -- Postwar Crises and Liberal Responses -- The Defeat of the Working-Class Movement -- Stabilization of the Liberal Order -- Epilogue -- 7. Narrowing the Aliberal Outcomes: Liberalism's Final Failure and the Irrelevance of Traditional Dictatorship -- Neither Liberalism Nor Lib-Labism -- Politics against Markets -- Irrelevance of Traditional Dictatorship -- 8. Social Democracy and Fascism -- Social Democracy: The Scandinavian Solution -- Fascism: The Solution of Germany, Italy, and Spain -- Family Peasantry: A Pivotal Force -- Red-Green Alliance and Social Democratic Hegemony -- Rural Class Conflicts and Fascist Hegemony.
Note:
Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources
URL:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/kxp/detail.action?docID=430315
URL:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/kxp/detail.action?docID=430315
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