Paths to democracy : revolution and totalitarianism / Rosemary H. T. O'Kane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Kane, Rosemary H. T.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy--History.

Democracy.

History.

Revolutions--History.

Revolutions.

Totalitarianism--History.

Totalitarianism.

Physical Description:

xi, 274 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2004.

Summary:

This innovative volume undertakes a theoretically informed investigation of the links between revolutions, totalitarianism and democracy though comparison of primarily European Countries in the search for a more widely applicable understanding of democracy. It will explore the relationship between history and democracy and the implications for the understanding of democracy today. The principal case studies are of France, Germany and Russia, and are chosen to illustrate three kinds of state--revolutionary, democratic and totalitarian--and are contrasted in detail in this context.

Contents:

Democracy : method and theses

On method : comparative historical analysis and politics

Democracy and empirical political theory : from the present to the past

Revolutions and ideas of democracy : from the past towards the present

Revolution : chance for democracy

Revolution and the long path to democracy in France

Revolution and the failure of democracy in Russia and Germany

Totalitarianism : antithesis of democracy

The rise of totalitarian regimes : contrasting France

Totalitarian regime : Nazi Germany

Totalitarian regime : Stalin's Soviet Union

Democracy as synthesis

Federal Germany : re-tracing a path to democracy

Communism and its collapse : East Germany and the Soviet Union

Conclusion : lessons for democracy

The struggle for modern democracy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [251]-261) and index.

ISBN:

0415314739

0415314747

OCLC:

53284855