A01=Daniel E. Miller
A01=Daniel Miller
A01=Philip Howe
A01=Philip J. Howe
A01=Thomas A. Lorman
A01=Thomas Lorman
Austria's Proto-consociational Legacy
Author_Daniel E. Miller
Author_Daniel Miller
Author_Philip Howe
Author_Philip J. Howe
Author_Thomas A. Lorman
Author_Thomas Lorman
Category=JPHV
Category=NHD
Consociational Democracy
consociationalism
Czechoslovak politics
democracy
elite cartels
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
European history
forthcoming
Habsburg politics
political development
Political structures
Product details
- ISBN 9789633865859
- Weight: 835g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 31 Aug 2026
- Publisher: Central European University Press
- Publication City/Country: HU
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
The authors of this volume challenge conventional notions about Habsburg and Czechoslovak politics, arguing that they were more democratic than they often appear. They use the consociational model of democracy as a means of combining political science and history. The theory, associated with Arend Lijphart, asserts that consociationalism guarantees minorities a say in government and helps preserve democracy in societies that experience deep ideological, cultural, or ethnic divisions. Consociationalism enables the main segments to be isolated organizationally from each other, thus avoiding conflict but affording the leaders opportunities to make compromises for the good of the whole.
Consociationalism has proven its worth as a model for describing contemporary democracies and diagnosing their ills. By exploring the institutions and practices of the Habsburg Monarchy before 1918 and the Czechoslovak First Republic, Howe, Lorman, and Miller prove the value of the consociational theory in analyzing the past. They hold that a multitude of parties, frequent cabinet changes, and reliance on cabinets of experts do not necessarily signal flawed democracies. In fact, they are features of consociationalism. This volume challenges historians and social scientists to view the Austrian half of the Habsburg Monarchy before 1918 as evolving toward consociational democracy and the Czechoslovak First Republic as a fully consociational state.
Consociationalism has proven its worth as a model for describing contemporary democracies and diagnosing their ills. By exploring the institutions and practices of the Habsburg Monarchy before 1918 and the Czechoslovak First Republic, Howe, Lorman, and Miller prove the value of the consociational theory in analyzing the past. They hold that a multitude of parties, frequent cabinet changes, and reliance on cabinets of experts do not necessarily signal flawed democracies. In fact, they are features of consociationalism. This volume challenges historians and social scientists to view the Austrian half of the Habsburg Monarchy before 1918 as evolving toward consociational democracy and the Czechoslovak First Republic as a fully consociational state.
Philip J. Howe is a professor of political science at Adrian College in Adrian, MI. Thomas A. Lorman is an associate professor of history in the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University College London. Daniel E. Miller is an emeritus professor of history at the University of West Florida in Pensacola.
