Democracy's Collapse in Interwar Europe: Key Causes

Introduction: Democracy Under Pressure in Interwar Europe

Giovanni Capoccia's journal article Defending Democracy: Reactions to Political Extremism in Inter-War Europe provides readers with historical data demonstrating that democracy does not function merely as a result of factors that happen to favor the ideology. The article shows that democracy is capable of operating even when such factors are absent, while Spain after Franco: The Making of a Competitive Party System illustrates how democracy can collapse even where important structural advantages are present. Together with the work of Nancy Bermeo and Herbert Kitschelt, these four scholarly works address the factors that precede and ultimately cause the breakdown of democratic governance.

Czechoslovakia, Finland, and Belgium: Defending Democracy Against Extremism

The case of Czechoslovakia, according to Capoccia, is essential for understanding why a country is able to maintain democracy in critical times. The fact that the country's leaders promoted education and encouraged literacy played a significant role in helping citizens understand moral questions and the social benefits of democratic participation. In order to successfully combat anti-democratic thinking, nations develop and implement experimental political strategies — "whether inclusive or repressive in nature, which are explicitly aimed at reacting against those political forces that exploit the rights and guarantees of democracy in order to undermine its fundamental bases" (Capoccia, 2).

Countries like Finland, Belgium, and Czechoslovakia experienced increasing tension during the 1930s as extremist forces grew in power and threatened democratic institutions. The fact that these extremist movements were represented by legitimate political parties made the situation more complicated, given the legal character of their participation. High levels of social and economic development, however, made it difficult for anti-democratic convictions to take hold and helped democratic nations resist authoritarian influence. Capoccia underlines that alienated communities did not hesitate to join extremist parties in democratic countries, but that conditions in these three nations provided a setting in which democracy was able to dominate competing ideologies.

This environment was not without cost for democratic supporters. Those who backed democracy became targets of Nazi forces and hostile minorities. Being part of an intellectual community supportive of democracy during a period when the Third Reich was actively Germanizing occupied territories was particularly dangerous for many individuals in Belgium, Finland, and Czechoslovakia. To a certain degree, Finland's cooperation with Germany proved beneficial in that it allowed Finns to preserve a recognizable form of democratic governance.

Czechs were especially affected during the Second World War because their government refused to cooperate with Nazi forces. The Slovak population contributed to the collapse of democracy within the state, as Slovaks increasingly embraced nationalist principles in the belief that this alignment would bring them closer to the Nazi power structure. This political shift destabilized the country in the late 1930s and ultimately led to democratic breakdown. Capoccia's argument that democracy itself made the dissolution of the Czechoslovak state possible is persuasive: the government's reluctance to ban the Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront — a small party established to promote the interests of the German minority — contributed directly to the serious weakening of its political system.

The Franquist Regime and the Collapse of Spanish Democracy

Spanish nationalism was a decisive force in persuading the Spanish population to accept the Franquist regime. Many believed it would give them greater control over their country's resources and cultural future. Spain after Franco: The Making of a Competitive Party System addresses this phenomenon and highlights the connection between nationalist philosophy and the desire to forge a distinct cultural identity. Supremacist ideals appear to have enabled people to set aside liberal values and embrace discriminatory attitudes toward those considered part of a minority.

Franco argued that Spanish civilization was being harmed by the presence and influence of individuals who promoted ideals threatening to traditional Spanish cultural values. The Franquist regime effectively persuaded many citizens that democracy was harmful — that it destroyed everything they stood for and would ultimately bring Spanish society to ruin. The authors of Spain after Franco tend to focus more on Franco himself than on the population that supported him. Nevertheless, the willingness of ordinary Spaniards to back an authoritarian regime because it appeared to protect their cultural identity played a significant role in foreclosing Spain's democratic prospects for several decades.

Conclusion: How Democracies Break Down

The breakdown of democracy typically occurs when large portions of the population grow unwilling to accept their circumstances and turn to extremism as a means of destabilizing the existing balance of power. This dynamic has a severely damaging effect on minorities and on members of the upper classes, who frequently fall victim to the demands and violence of majority groups. The cases examined here — Czechoslovakia, Finland, Belgium, and Spain — confirm that democratic collapse is rarely the product of a single cause, but rather the convergence of nationalist sentiment, citizen disillusionment, the exploitation of democratic freedoms by anti-democratic actors, and the failure of state institutions to respond decisively.

Works Cited

Bermeo, Nancy Gina. "Ordinary People and the Breakdown of Democracy in Interwar Europe."

Capoccia, Giovanni. "Defending Democracy: Reactions to Political Extremism in Inter-War Europe." European Journal of Political Research 39: 431–460, 2001.

Kitschelt, Herbert. "Political Regime Change: Structure and Process-Driven Explanations?" The American Political Science Review 86: 1028–1034, 1992.

Gunther, Richard, Giacomo Sani, and Goldie Shabad. Spain after Franco: The Making of a Competitive Party System.