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Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times : The Citizenry and the Breakdown of Democracy / Nancy G. Bermeo.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2020]Copyright date: ©2003Description: 1 online resource (288 p.) : 17 line illus. 50 tablesContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691214139
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 306.2 22
LOC classification:
  • JC337 .B47 2003eb
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF FIGURES -- LIST OF TABLES -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- PART I: OUR LITERATURE AND INTERWAR EUROPE -- Introduction -- 1. Heroes or Villains? Images of Citizens and Civil Society in the Literature on Democracy -- 2. Ordinary People and the Breakdown of Democracy in Interwar Europe -- PART II: SOUTH AMERICA AND OUR LITERATURE REVISED -- 3. The Reluctant Coup in Brazil -- 4. The Slow-Motion Coup in Uruguay -- 5. The Tragedy of Democracy in Chile -- 6. The Violent Death of Democracy in Argentina -- 7. Polarization and the Ignorance of Elites -- INDEX
Summary: For generations, influential thinkers--often citing the tragic polarization that took place during Germany's Great Depression--have suspected that people's loyalty to democratic institutions erodes under pressure and that citizens gravitate toward antidemocratic extremes in times of political and economic crisis. But do people really defect from democracy when times get tough? Do ordinary people play a leading role in the collapse of popular government? Based on extensive research, this book overturns the common wisdom. It shows that the German experience was exceptional, that people's affinity for particular political positions are surprisingly stable, and that what is often labeled polarization is the result not of vote switching but of such factors as expansion of the franchise, elite defections, and the mobilization of new voters. Democratic collapses are caused less by changes in popular preferences than by the actions of political elites who polarize themselves and mistake the actions of a few for the preferences of the many. These conclusions are drawn from the study of twenty cases, including every democracy that collapsed in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in interwar Europe, every South American democracy that fell to the Right after the Cuban Revolution, and three democracies that avoided breakdown despite serious economic and political challenges. Unique in its historical and regional scope, this book offers unsettling but important lessons about civil society and regime change--and about the paths to democratic consolidation today.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780691214139

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF FIGURES -- LIST OF TABLES -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- PART I: OUR LITERATURE AND INTERWAR EUROPE -- Introduction -- 1. Heroes or Villains? Images of Citizens and Civil Society in the Literature on Democracy -- 2. Ordinary People and the Breakdown of Democracy in Interwar Europe -- PART II: SOUTH AMERICA AND OUR LITERATURE REVISED -- 3. The Reluctant Coup in Brazil -- 4. The Slow-Motion Coup in Uruguay -- 5. The Tragedy of Democracy in Chile -- 6. The Violent Death of Democracy in Argentina -- 7. Polarization and the Ignorance of Elites -- INDEX

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

For generations, influential thinkers--often citing the tragic polarization that took place during Germany's Great Depression--have suspected that people's loyalty to democratic institutions erodes under pressure and that citizens gravitate toward antidemocratic extremes in times of political and economic crisis. But do people really defect from democracy when times get tough? Do ordinary people play a leading role in the collapse of popular government? Based on extensive research, this book overturns the common wisdom. It shows that the German experience was exceptional, that people's affinity for particular political positions are surprisingly stable, and that what is often labeled polarization is the result not of vote switching but of such factors as expansion of the franchise, elite defections, and the mobilization of new voters. Democratic collapses are caused less by changes in popular preferences than by the actions of political elites who polarize themselves and mistake the actions of a few for the preferences of the many. These conclusions are drawn from the study of twenty cases, including every democracy that collapsed in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in interwar Europe, every South American democracy that fell to the Right after the Cuban Revolution, and three democracies that avoided breakdown despite serious economic and political challenges. Unique in its historical and regional scope, this book offers unsettling but important lessons about civil society and regime change--and about the paths to democratic consolidation today.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Feb 2021)