Why democracy failed : the agrarian origins of the Spanish Civil War / James Simpson, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Juan Carmona, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Simpson, James, 1953- author.

Carmona, Juan (Carmona Pidal), author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in economic history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democratization--Spain--History.

Democratization.

Land reform--Spain--History--20th century.

Land reform.

Agriculture--Economic aspects--Spain--History.

Agriculture.

Rural conditions.

Agriculture--Economic aspects.

History.

Spain--History--Civil War, 1936-1939--Causes.

Spain.

Spain--Politics and government--1931-1939.

Politics and government.

Spain--Rural conditions--20th century.

War--Causes.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xviii, 299 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Summary:

"In this ... history of the origins of the Spanish Civil War, James Simpson and Juan Carmona tackle the highly-debated issue of why it was that Spain's democratic Second Republic failed.They explore the interconnections between economic growth, state capacity, rural social mobility and the creation of mass competitive political parties, and how these limited the effectiveness of the new republican governments, and especially their attempts to tackle economic and social problems within the agricultural sector. They show how political change during the Republic had a major economic impact on the different groups in village society, leading to social conflicts that turned to polarization and finally, with the civil war, to violence and brutality. The democratic Republic failed not so much because of the opposition from the landed elites, but rather because small farmers had been unable to exploit more effectively their newly found political voice."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part 1. The European experience, economic and political development, 1870-1939

The modernization of European societies

European agriculture in an age of economic instability

Part 2. Spanish agriculture, economic development and democracy

The limits to Spanish modernization, 1850-1936

Agricultural growth, regional diversity, and regional land-tenure regimes

Part 3. Explaining the weakness of the family farm

The family farm and the limits to village-level cooperation

The persistence of the landed elites and the nature of farm lobbies

Part 4. Rural elites, poverty, and the attempts at land reform

Land ownership, economic development and poverty in Andalusia and southern Spain

The limits to land reform

Part 5. Rural conflicts and the polarization of village society

Creating parties, political alliances, and interest groups : rural politics in the 1930s

The growing polarization of rural society during the Second Republic

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Agricultural statistics in Spain, France and Italy in the early 1930s

Appendix 2: Dry farming and the economics of the family farm.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Simpson, James, Why democracy failed

ISBN:

9781108487481

1108487483

9781108720380

1108720382

OCLC:

1140364132