sum up on what the differece between 1930s and 1920s politics
We examine the impact of the Great Depression on the share of votes for right wing anti system parties in elections in the 1920s and 1930s. We confirm the existence of a link between political extremism and economic hard times as captured by growth or cont raction of the economy. What mattered was not simply growth at the time of the election but cumulative growth performance.
But
the effect of the Depression on support for right wing anti system parties was not equally powerful under all economic, politic al and social circumstances.
It was greatest in countries with relatively short histories of democracy, with existing extremist parties, and with electoral systems that create d low hurdles to parliamentary representation. Above all, it was greatest wher e depressed economic conditions were allowed to .
Introduction
The impact of the global credit crisis and Great Recession has been more than just economic. In both parliamentary and presidential democracies governments have been ousted. Hard economic times have increased political polarization and bred support for nationalist and right wing political parties. All this gives rise to fear s that economic hard times will feed political extremism, as it did in the 1930s.
M
emori es of the 1930s inform much contemporary political commentary, just as they inform recent economic commentary. But exactly what impact the interwar depression and economic crisis had on the electoral fortunes of extremist parties has not been systematical ly studied.
1
M any of our intuitions about the links between the Depression and political extremism are informed by the case of
Germany
.
There
, both communists and fascists saw their vot e shares increase sharply as the economic crisis deepened after 1929
. The view that this link was causal is widely shared. And the horrific consequences of what followed have led observers, whether consciously or not, to generalize from the
But
the effect of the Depression on support for right wing anti system parties was not equally powerful under all economic, politic al and social circumstances.
It was greatest in countries with relatively short histories of democracy, with existing extremist parties, and with electoral systems that create d low hurdles to parliamentary representation. Above all, it was greatest wher e depressed economic conditions were allowed to .
Introduction
The impact of the global credit crisis and Great Recession has been more than just economic. In both parliamentary and presidential democracies governments have been ousted. Hard economic times have increased political polarization and bred support for nationalist and right wing political parties. All this gives rise to fear s that economic hard times will feed political extremism, as it did in the 1930s.
M
emori es of the 1930s inform much contemporary political commentary, just as they inform recent economic commentary. But exactly what impact the interwar depression and economic crisis had on the electoral fortunes of extremist parties has not been systematical ly studied.
1
M any of our intuitions about the links between the Depression and political extremism are informed by the case of
Germany
.
There
, both communists and fascists saw their vot e shares increase sharply as the economic crisis deepened after 1929
. The view that this link was causal is widely shared. And the horrific consequences of what followed have led observers, whether consciously or not, to generalize from the