Practicing Democracy

by Margaret Lavinia Anderson

What happens when manhood suffrage, a radically egalitarian institution, gets introduced into a deeply hierarchical society? In her sweeping history of Imperial Germany's electoral culture, Anderson shows how the sudden opportunity to "practice" democracy in 1867 opened up a free space in the land of Kaisers, generals, and Junkers. Originally designed to make voters susceptible to manipulation by the authorities, the suffrage's unintended consequence was to enmesh its participants in ever more democratic procedures and practices. The result was the growth of an increasingly democratic culture in the decades before 1914.


Explicit comparisons with Britain, France, and America give us a vivid picture of the coercive pressures--from employers, clergy, and communities--that German voters faced, but also of the legalistic culture that shielded them from the fraud, bribery, and violence so characteristic of other early "franchise regimes." We emerge with a new sense that Germans were in no way less modern in the practice of democratic politics. Anderson, in fact, argues convincingly against the widely accepted notion that it was pre-war Germany's lack of democratic values and experience that ultimately led to Weimar's failure and the Third Reich.



Practicing Democracy is a surprising reinterpretation of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Germany and will engage historians concerned with the question of Germany's "special path" to modernity; sociologists interested in obedience, popular mobilization, and civil society; political scientists debating the relative role of institutions versus culture in the transition to democracy. By showing how political activity shaped and was shaped by the experiences of ordinary men and women, it conveys the excitement of democratic politics.

Genres: History, Grad School, Nonfiction

488 pages, Hardcover

First published April 10, 2000

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anderson compares democratic practices and procedures in late 19th-century Germany to those in Britain, France, and America to argue against the "special path" interpretation of German history which blames the failure of Weimar on lack of experience with democracy. Anderson argues that misconceptions regarding the nature and role of the franchise and democratic government in Imperial Germany have prevented the true role of German suffrage laws from being properly evaluated.

While making connections with the corpus of work on this topic, Anderson refused to be trapped by its extant historiographic models. Her original and intelligent use of previously neglected primary source, especially the "election scrutinies," sheds new light on this period and lends a new and more concrete dimension to the human factor of the subject.

Anderson declined to limit her work by applying to it a concrete definition of the word or concept democracy, which could only have the effect of flattening and distorting the reality of the political and elective process as experienced by contemporary Germans, without enhancing the readers comprehension. Instead, she chose to include a valuable caution regarding the obstacles to understanding created by anachronistic or teleological conceptions of "democracy" and "modernity." She argues convincingly that this subject has long been misunderstood due to the inappropriate use of the Westminster model as the only "true" model for parliamentary democracy, and argument which could be applied to several non-German fields as well.

Margaret Anderson's book is noteworthy for both its complexity and clarity. Without doing any disservice to the nuances of her subject matter, Anderson has succeeded in producing a work both eminently readable and intellectually demanding. As such it should serve not only to enhance understanding of this topic but also to set the standard for this field of history.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anderson argues that the universal male suffrage of the Kaiserreich created a genuine "participatory political culture" (20) in the Empire. Anderson examines democratic source material such as petitions to highlight how Germans learned democracy by practicing it. The emergence of a democratic culture allowed large constituencies to emerge based around political ideals, communities which then fought with each other. Professionalization of politics also led to certain political standards, such as a toleration of opposing views and a rejection of violence, to develop. The stability which emerged allowed for the unequal system of Imperial Germany to continue without too much societal unrest.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked all the little political cartoons

[Brittany]

Quite the read.