The Social Democratic Moment: Ideas and Politics in the Making of Interwar Europe

Sheri Berman

Published by Harvard University Press 1998

The Social Democratic Moment

Ideas and Politics in the Making of Interwar Europe

Sheri Berman

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674020849

Overview
Contents

About this book

This study in comparative politics takes two countries with similar historical experiences in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and asks why they had very different responses to the same natural shock—the depression of the 1930s. In analyzing their responses, Berman makes a convincing case for the important role ideas play in politics.

Reviews

[Berman's] work is convincing and well written, and her discussion of the role of ideas is spirited and welcome. Chapter 2 should be required reading for all political scientists who are unwilling to look beyond numbers to see the force of ideas.
-- Foreign Affairs

[The Social Democratic Movement] is a comparative analysis of the developments of two of the most important social democratic parties in Europe, the SPD of Germany and the SAP of Sweden. It sets out to explain how the German Social Democrats, at the largest interwar party, could not effectively prevent the collapse of Weimar Germany, whereas at the same time the Swedish Social Democrats were establishing political hegemony in their own country...The book outlines the contrasts between the Swedish and German developments through well-contextualized country-specific chapters, first on long-term political development, then on national transitions to (full) democracy, then on responses to the depression. The book is thoroughly researched and clearly written, with each chapter beginning with an insightful and very fitting quotation.
-- Alan Siaroff Recensions [Italy]

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
CHAPTER 1 Reexamining Interwar Social Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
CHAPTER 2 Evaluating the Role of Ideas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
CHAPTER 3 Sweden’s Political Development and the Programmatic Beliefs of the SAP Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
CHAPTER 4 Germany’s Political Development and the Programmatic Beliefs of the SPD Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
CHAPTER 5 Sweden’s Path to Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
CHAPTER 6 Germany’s Path to Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
CHAPTER 7 The Origins of Social Democratic Hegemony Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
CHAPTER 8 The Collapse of German Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
CHAPTER 9 Understanding Interwar Social Democracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 320

eBook

Published: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 9780674020849