Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors
- Political Sociology in the New Millenium
- PART I THEORIES OF POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY
- PART II CIVIL SOCIETY: THE ROOTS AND PROCESSES OF POLITICAL ACTION
- PART III THE STATE AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS
- 18 State Formation and State Building in Europe
- 19 Transitions to Democracy
- 20 Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements
- 21 Regimes and Contention
- 22 Theories and Practices of Neocorporatism
- 23 Undemocratic Politics in the Twentieth Century and Beyond
- 24 State Bureaucracy
- PART IV STATE POLICY AND INNOVATIONS
- PART V GLOBALIZATION AND POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY
- References
- Name Index
- Subject Index
23 - Undemocratic Politics in the Twentieth Century and Beyond
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors
- Political Sociology in the New Millenium
- PART I THEORIES OF POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY
- PART II CIVIL SOCIETY: THE ROOTS AND PROCESSES OF POLITICAL ACTION
- PART III THE STATE AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS
- 18 State Formation and State Building in Europe
- 19 Transitions to Democracy
- 20 Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements
- 21 Regimes and Contention
- 22 Theories and Practices of Neocorporatism
- 23 Undemocratic Politics in the Twentieth Century and Beyond
- 24 State Bureaucracy
- PART IV STATE POLICY AND INNOVATIONS
- PART V GLOBALIZATION AND POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY
- References
- Name Index
- Subject Index
Summary
Unser National Sozialismus ist die Zukunft Deutschlands. Trotz diese Zukunft wirtschaftlich rechts-orientiert wird, werden unsere Herzen links orientiert bleiben. Aber vor allem werden wir niemals vergessen, dass wir Deutschen sind.
–Adolf Hitler, 1932 Annual Congress of the National Socialist Democratic PartySocialement je suis de gauche, économiquement je suis de droite, et nationalement je suis de France!
–Jean Marie Le Pen, 2002 presidential campaign speech for the Front NationalTo write about undemocratic politics after the fall of the Berlin Wall and in the midst of widespread democratization in Central Europe and Latin America may look like a vain effort to revive a fast-dwindling subject. Yet, even if the age of Soviet or Nazi totalitarianism seems over and many autocracies are fast being propelled – by financial necessity if by anything – toward democratic openings, we are now experiencing a period in which undemocratic politics are manifested as much in sundry dictatorships, fundamentalisms, and bloody civil wars as in antidemocratic ideologies, parties, and tolerated practices outside and within established democracies. Instead of clearly characterized “regimes,” to which we may unambiguously assign a democratic or undemocratic label, we often find a patchwork of mixed democratic and undemocratic ideologies, mentalities, rules, and entrenched practices. This is especially true of countries that have only recently emerged from colonial rule and those recently returned to elected civilian government after bloody dictatorships. But it is also true of more established democracies, to wit the astounding success of Haider in Austria and Le Pen in France.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Handbook of Political SociologyStates, Civil Societies, and Globalization, pp. 461 - 481Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003