Account for the “Failure of Democracy” in Eastern Europe (Excluding the Ussr) in the Period 1918-1939.
Account for the “failure of democracy” in Eastern Europe (excluding the USSR) in the period 1918-1939.
According to Robert A. Dahl, there are certain criteria that a government must meet for it to be called a democracy. Democracy must provide first of all, opportunities for effective participation, where all members of an association concerned with a certain policy ‘must have equal and effective opportunities for making their views known to the other members as to what the policy should be’ (Dahl R.A.: 2000). A second criterion is equality in voting, whereby ‘every member must have an equal and effective opportunity to vote, and all votes must be counted as equal’, followed by gaining enlightened understanding, meaning that each member must have the opportunity to learn about alternative solutions and policies. The last two criteria are the opportunities of exercising control over the agenda (the opportunity for the members to decide ‘how and, if they choose, what matters are to be placed on the agenda’ (Dahl R.A.: 2000) and the inclusion of adults, who should have the full citizen rights implied by the first four criteria. Failure of democracy is therefore to be regarded as an incapability of the ruling elite to provide the society with one or more of the previous opportunities for fairness and equality in government and choice. It is a phenomenon which occurred in many parts of the world in the beginning of the XX century – in the form of authoritarian or totalitarian regimes. One of the most affected regions was Eastern Europe. Up to 1918 most of Eastern Europe had been dominated by supranational empires for centuries. The collapse of the Habsburg and Ottoman empires brought for the first time the idea of an Eastern Europe ruled democratically, with state boundaries corresponding to ethnic ones, and the right of people to choose their country’s government. With the end of the First World War, there were signed pacts which determined the borders
According to Robert A. Dahl, there are certain criteria that a government must meet for it to be called a democracy. Democracy must provide first of all, opportunities for effective participation, where all members of an association concerned with a certain policy ‘must have equal and effective opportunities for making their views known to the other members as to what the policy should be’ (Dahl R.A.: 2000). A second criterion is equality in voting, whereby ‘every member must have an equal and effective opportunity to vote, and all votes must be counted as equal’, followed by gaining enlightened understanding, meaning that each member must have the opportunity to learn about alternative solutions and policies. The last two criteria are the opportunities of exercising control over the agenda (the opportunity for the members to decide ‘how and, if they choose, what matters are to be placed on the agenda’ (Dahl R.A.: 2000) and the inclusion of adults, who should have the full citizen rights implied by the first four criteria. Failure of democracy is therefore to be regarded as an incapability of the ruling elite to provide the society with one or more of the previous opportunities for fairness and equality in government and choice. It is a phenomenon which occurred in many parts of the world in the beginning of the XX century – in the form of authoritarian or totalitarian regimes. One of the most affected regions was Eastern Europe. Up to 1918 most of Eastern Europe had been dominated by supranational empires for centuries. The collapse of the Habsburg and Ottoman empires brought for the first time the idea of an Eastern Europe ruled democratically, with state boundaries corresponding to ethnic ones, and the right of people to choose their country’s government. With the end of the First World War, there were signed pacts which determined the borders
Bibliography: 1. Bideleux, R., Jeffries, I., 1998. A History of Eastern Europe Crisis and Change. London: Routledge. 2. Dahl, R.A., 2000. On Democracy. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 3. Davies, N., 1997. Europe: a history. London: Pimlico 4. Held, J., 1992. The Columbia History of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century. New York; Oxford: Columbia University Press.