Od krytyki demokracji parlamentarnej do pochwały dyktatury. Niemiecka myśl nacjonalistyczna 1918–1933

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-92
Author(s):  
Marek Maciejewski

The article deals with the question of the formation – since the end of World War One until the emergence of the Nazi regime – of various conceptions of the political system in influential and widespread intellectual circles of the so-called revolutionary conservatives who represented nationalist, anti-liberal and anti-parliamentarian views. This political ideology adopted a clearly critical position regarding political, constitutional and legal solutions adopted in the Reich after the fall of the Hohenzollern empire in 1918. Criticizing parliamentary democracy, though not necessarily democracy as such, revolutionary conservatives announced the need to establish a system of dictatorial leadership in Germany, modeled after the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, oftentimes seeing the then President of the Reich, Paul von Hindenburg, as a suitable person for this role (they rather sporadically perceived Adolf Hitler in this way). Some of them not only approved of an authoritarian model of government understood as an opposition towards the so-called Weimar system, but also accepted the principles of totalitarianism (e.g., C. Schmitt, E. Jünger, E. Niekisch). Since 1933, the Nazis partly adopted the anti-liberal, anti-parliamentarian and authoritarian conceptions of revolutionary conservatives, reaching for – among others – Carl Schmitt’s theory of decisionism or Ernst Jünger’s idea of the total mobilization of the nation.

1968 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-269
Author(s):  
André Vachet

Division of power and social integrationExplanation of some of the recent challenges to western democracy may be found in a re-examination of Montesquieu's thought. Here we find the theory of the separation of power to be far more complex than is implied in the simple divisions of legislature, executive, and judiciary. For Montesquieu, the separation of power is more a social division than a political or juridical one. He contemplated returning the organs of political power to various social forces, e.g. monarchy, aristocracy, and bourgeoisie, and that then the self-assertion of forces would be restrained by the resistance of other social groups. The realization of its goals would require every important social group to integrate itself both to society and to the state and to seek its goals through realization of the general good.Since Montesquieu's time, political structures would seem to have been very little changed even though social structures have been greatly altered by the rise of economic powers. Political institutions have been losing touch with the vital forces of society and these have had to find other channels of expression. The personalization of power, the rise of the executive, violence, and increasing paternalism may be viewed as phenomena of compensation by which attempts are being made to bridge the gap between the structures of political power and those of a society which has been restructured.Revigoration of parliamentary democracy would seem to require that all vital social forces be reintegrated into the political system and be given meaningful channels of political expression. Failure to make such changes opens the way to identification of the political powers with technocracy and the increasing general use of violence in the resolution of social problems.


1998 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-248
Author(s):  
George Barany

Historians and political scientists have already begun to explore different aspects of modern Austria's political culture. But as Helmut Konrad has reminded us, this relatively new concept is loosely defined; he considers “political culture” to mean “the values held by individuals, groups, and society as a whole that affect the behavior of peoplewithin and in relation to the political system of a country.” Lucian Pye stresses the behavioral approach in political analysis to make “more explicit and systematic” our understanding of “such long-standingconcepts as political ideology, national ethos and spirit, national political psychology, and the fundamental values of a people.”


Author(s):  
Marisa Kerbizi ◽  
Edlira Tonuzi Macaj

Ideology as a form of ideas and as a practical tool with determinative purposes in certain circumstances may become very influential and risky, too. Albanian literature, as one of the East Bloc countries where communism was installed as a political system after the Second World War, severely suffered the ideology consequences in art. The purpose of this research is to focus on some problems related to the limitations, restrictions, deviation, regression created by ideology in literature. Concrete case studies will complete the theoretical frame through the analytical, historical, aesthetical, and interpretative approach. The hypothesis sustains the idea that the political ideology of the Albanian dictatorial system has found many ways to damage the most representative authors and their artistic works of Albanian literature. The ideology claimed “the compulsory educational system” by interfering in the school textbooks, by excluding several authors from those textbooks, by denying their inclusion or the right for publication, or even by eliminating them physically.


Author(s):  
Jacqueline Castledine

This chapter discusses how Americans debated regarding women's right to vote, even before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. By the presidential election of 1936, most agreed that women had failed to organize in numbers large enough to provide them with an effective voice in the political system. However, World War II would create opportunities for women's political activism. As men joined the service, women replaced them not only in the industrial workplace but also in political organizing. Americans concerned with dramatic shifts in gender roles then engaged in a concerted effort to remasculinize U.S. culture after the war. In need of strategies to lessen their apparent threat to American masculinity, Progressive women, led by Women for Wallace chair Elinor Gimbel, introduced various tactics to calm fears about the supposed dangers of leftist women.


Itinerario ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-95
Author(s):  
Roger N. Buckley

In an article published in this journal (V (1981), 1), I argued that we will not be able to fully understand the political significance (if any) of the widespread eruption in John Company's Bengal Army in 1857, unless we hear from the “other side of the hill,” from the alienated sepoy officer and rank and file. In the interim we have heard principally from several senior British writers. And because of, for instance, a much flawed research methodology, they have reached unanimity in their analysis of the shock to British rule in India: it was simply a mutiny, one absolutely void of any organized political aims or expressions. The work of Thomas Spear is typical. He has this to say in his India: A Modern History concerning the question of the mutiny as a nationalist movement, a war of independence: “The view that the mutiny was a concerted movement against the British, a violent predecessor of Mahatma Gandhi's campaigns, overlooks the fact that there was then no Indian nation.” He adds: “The new classes with ideas of nationalism were then very few in numbers and they were wholly opposed to the movement.” Philip Mason added the weight of his distinguished reputation to this chorus of disbelievers, who appeared to cringe in retrospective horror at the thought that the good and faithful sepoy could harbor such hideous–and ungrateful–thoughts as freedom from (what was) alien tyranny. After all, Mason muses, did not every British writer up to the mutiny repeat the belief that the Indian soldier had no sense of nationalism? No, he concludes smugly, the Indian soldier had no national feeling until long after World War One. The sepoy was, then, nothing more than a mindless mercenary-child-robot. The mutiny, however, and the other disturbances among the native soldiery prior to 1857, would indicate that the British, then and now, never fully understood their Indian auxiliaries.


Author(s):  
N. G. ROGOZHINA

On the threshold of elections designed to be held in February 2019,  the first after the military junta seized power in 2014, it is important  to define the role of parties in the political process of Thailand, which  as other developing countries of Asia, faces  challenges in democratic state building. The contemporary political  history of kingdom represents the confrontation of two tendencies –  authoritarianism and democracy what has a reverse impact on  political parties, their character, structure and ability to represent  interests of the society as a whole. The author analyses the process  of party evolution in the historical retrospective in the context of  transformation of political system – from bureaucratic to  semidemocratic subjected to economic modernization and changes in  socio structure of society where traditional form of organization patron-client is persisted. The author defines three  stages of evolution of party system in Thailand The first is  characterized by the full control of civil-military bureaucracy over  parties. The second stage is closely related to the formation of provincial political clientele groups. The third stage marks the  evolvement of party of “power” with the implication for  strengthening the parliamentary democracy in the beginning of XXI  century. And as the result of it – to the destabilization of political  system, based on the relative balance of power between two main  political forces – bureaucracy and army interested in reservation of authoritarian government, and bourgeoisie supporting the  liberalization of political institutes. With the emergence of party of “power” supported by the majority of population advocating  parliamentary democracy political spectrum has changed. The arising conflict of interests subjected to collision of positions  regarding the model of political governance was overcome by  military coup. Analyzing the political spectrum on the threshold of  elections the author comes to conclusion that the restoration of  compromised model of political governance sample of 80-90 years of  XX century is the most likely option of political development of  Thailand in the near future. Though it differs in one aspect – the  social structure has changed, there is the rise of that groups of population that intend to participate in the political process, what  will force the power to be more transparent and social oriented. These challenges face the political parties as well.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-140
Author(s):  
Kazimierz M. Ujazdowski

EFFECTIVE PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY BY MICHEL DEBRÉIn the 1930s, France epitomized a weakness of parliamentary democracy. Third Republic, that was recognized by many European countries as a model political system, was actually hit by a grave crisis combined with an increase of popularity of authoritarian trends. Undoubtedly, ineffectiveness of the French model of parliamentary democracy contributed to the fall of republican France in 1940. An in-depth and interesting analysis, which may also be recognized as an attempt made to overcome the weaknesses of parliamentary democracy, was put forward by Michel Debré in his writings published in the WWII years. One of the reasons why his draft of a rationalized parlia­mentary system deserves special attention is that this document inspired establishment of the Fifth Republic. Debré offered an exceptional lesson of critical thinking about the political system. This outstanding lawyer was able to correctly identify and effectively eliminate the vices of parliament­ary governments.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Maria Zabłocka

An Overview of the Work of Polish Scholarship on Roman Law in the First Decade of the Twenty-First Century Summary In the first decade of the 21st century Polish scholars of Roman Law accomplished a considerable amount of work, adopting an entirely new area of research. While publications on private law had constituted the predominant trend since the Second World War, especially in the first forty years of the period, articles on public law were an exception until recent times. In the last few years nearly twice as many monographs have been published on a broad range of issues in public law, such as the political system, administration, and criminal law, as on private law. The numer of articles on public law has also been much larger than on other branches of Roman law. The work of Polish Romanists has earned acknowledgement abroad, as evidenced by the invitations Polish researchers have been receiving to contribute to foreign occasional volumes, and by the digests of Polish books and articles which have appeared in the Italian scholarly journal «Iura. Rivista internazionale di diritto romano e antico».


Politeja ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3(60)) ◽  
pp. 323-347
Author(s):  
Bogumił Grott ◽  
Olgierd Grott

Problem of the Condition of Poles and Poland in the Thought of Roman Dmowski The authors present opinions of Roman Dmowski – the leader of National Democrats – about character traits of his contemporary Poles and about the level of civilizational advancement of Poland during his lifetime. The authors highlight the development of his opinions, starting from the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century, when Dmowski criticised the Poles’ unrealistic political stances and the lack of character traits required to resist the occupants. In the next period the National Democrats entered the process of “merging nationalism with Catholicism into a single ideological entity”, which resulted in a shift in Dmowski’s perception of his compatriots. Dmowski started to notice more of their positive traits. He noted their idealism and religiousness, which were to be lacking among many Western societies. At the same time, discussing the political system, Dmowski criticised certain maladjustment of Polish masses to parliamentary democracy, leaning towards a vision of a system of elitist character. This quickly created the need, in Dmowski’s opinion, to identify “leadership”, which he described as “nation in the moral sense” or “national elite” and to entrust the real power to them.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-82
Author(s):  
Bernard Degen ◽  
Christian Koller

Zusammenfassung Switzerland was spared direct involvement into the First World War, nevertheless the global conflict had tremendous political and economic impact on the neutral republic. Major antagonisms emerged between the different linguistic groups sympathising with opposing belligerent coalitions as well as between different social strata. Food and fuel shortages and wartime inflation as well as a lack of integration of the labour movement into the political system and its partial shift to the left resulted in a wave of strikes and protest in the second half of the war that continued into the first two post-war years. Its culmination was a national general strike in November 1918 lasting for three days upon the war’s conclusion, and that in bourgeois circles was wrongly considered an attempted revolution. Whilst this is considered the most severe crisis in modern Swiss history, from a transnational perspective, it was no more than a relatively mild variation of the worldwide upheavals going on at the time.


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