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How Post-Imperial Democracies Die: A Comparison of Weimar Germany and Post-Soviet Russia | CPCS 52(2). With S. Kailitz

How Post-Imperial Democracies Die: A Comparison of Weimar Germany and Post-Soviet Russia | CPCS 52(2). With S. Kailitz

How post-imperial democracies die: A comparison of #WeimarGermany and post-Soviet #Russia.

With Steffen Kailitz of the HAIT @TUDresden_DE and @DVPW_Vergleich in @Elsevier‘s “#Communist and Post-Communist Studies” #politics#politicalscience#democratization

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While socioeconomic crisis – like in Germany after World War I and in Russia after the Cold War – is a necessary precondition for democratic erosion resulting in a breakdown of democracy, it is not a sufficient condition. We identify, in the cases of Weimar Germany and post-Soviet Russia, a post-imperial syndrome that includes nationalist irredentism and an ambition to return to the status quo ante of a “great power” as a main reason why democratization faces specific and enormous challenges for former “great powers.” A slide back to authoritarianism in post-imperial democracies takes a high toll. It is facilitated by international political conflicts, including annexation and wars, with new neighbouring states that harbor territories perceived as external national homelands like the Sudetenland or Crimea.

 

 

 

Author

Andreas Umland

Andreas Umland, Dr.Phil. (FU Berlin), Ph.D. (Cambridge), is a Research Fellow at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Senior Expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future in Kyiv, and Associate Professor of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He has held fellow- & lectureships at Stanford, Harvard, Oxford, Urals State University, Shevchenko University of Kyiv, and Catholic University of Eichstaett. He is also General Editor of the book series "Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society" (ibidem-verlag.de/spps) and on the Boards of Directors of the International Association for Comparative Fascist Studies (comfas.org), Boris Nemtsov Academic Center for the Study of Russia (cbn.ff.cuni.cz) as well as German-Ukrainian NGO "Kyiv Dialogue" (kyiv-dialogue.org).

Dissertations, articles & interviews: ukma.academia.edu/AndreasUmland .
Open Researcher and Contributor ID: 0000-0001-7916-4646
Scopus Author ID: 6602605051
Web of Science Researcher ID: I-5395-2015
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