Η πολιτική εξέλιξη της νεότερης Ευρώπης

by Sheri Berman, Μιχάλης Λαλιώτης (Translator), Θάνος Σαμαρτζής (Editor)

Στα τέλη του 20ού αιώνα πολλοί πίστεψαν ότι οι μακραίωνες συγκρούσεις που είχαν σημαδέψει τη νεότερη ευρωπαϊκή ιστορία ―με εμβληματικότερη απ’ όλες τη σύγκρουση μεταξύ δημοκρατικών και αντιδημοκρατικών καθεστώτων― είχαν πλέον λήξει οριστικά. Ζούσαμε, υποτίθεται, «το τέλος της ιστορίας»: το θρίαμβο της φιλελεύθερης δημοκρατίας. Δύο δεκαετίες αργότερα, η εποχή αυτή φαντάζει ήδη μακρινό παρελθόν. Η δημοκρατία στην Ευρώπη συναντά βαθύτατη αμφισβήτηση ― κι αυτό όχι μόνο στις νεοσύστατες δημοκρατικές πολιτείες, αλλά και στα παραδοσιακά προπύργιά της.

Το ξάφνιασμα που συνήθως προκαλεί το φαινόμενο αυτό οφείλεται στην ελλιπή κατανόηση της πραγματικής πολιτικής εξέλιξης της νεότερης Ευρώπης, υποστηρίζει η Σέρι Μπέρμαν, καθηγήτρια πολιτικής επιστήμης στο Κολλέγιο Μπάρναρντ του Πανεπιστήμιου Κολούμπια. Σχεδόν όλα τα δημοκρατικά κινήματα στην Ευρώπη αρχικά απέτυχαν, είτε καταρρέοντας κάτω απ’ το ίδιο τους το βάρος είτε υποκύπτοντας στις δυνάμεις της αντίδρασης και στην αποστασία των αρχικών τους συμμάχων. Η δημοκρατία υπήρξε σχεδόν πάντα εύθραυστη και απειλούμενη, γιατί η ίδια είναι από τη φύση της μια δύναμη απειλητική, ανατρεπτική, πολεμική.

Από τους αγγλικούς εμφυλίους πολέμους τον 17ο αιώνα και τη Γαλλική Επανάσταση ενάντια στο Παλαιό Καθεστώς, στις αποτυχημένες επαναστάσεις του 1848, την κατάρρευση των μεγάλων αυτοκρατοριών και το σχηματισμό των νεότερων ευρωπαϊκών κρατών, εν συνεχεία στην άνοδο του εθνικισμού και του κομμουνισμού και τη σχεδόν πλήρη ήττα της ευρωπαϊκής δημοκρατίας, ως τον Β΄ Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο ―τον μεγάλο ευρωπαϊκό εμφύλιο― και την πολιτική τάξη που διαμορφώθηκε σαν επακόλουθό του, το βιβλίο φτάνει μέχρι την πτώση των δικτατοριών της νότιας Ευρώπης και των καθεστώτων του υπαρκτού σοσιαλισμού, προσφέροντας όχι μόνο ένα εντυπωσιακό πανόραμα που τακτοποιεί και οριοθετεί τη χαώδη πολιτική ιστορία της νεότερης Ευρώπης, αλλά και μια διεισδυτική ερμηνεία του αντιδημοκρατικού ρεύματος που δείχνει σήμερα τα δόντια του.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Political Science, European History, Audiobook

763 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2019

Reviews

[Nikos Tsentemeidis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Σπουδαίο βιβλίο, που εξετάζει την πολιτική ιστορία της Ευρώπης από τον 17ο αιώνα και μετά, ξεκινώντας από την Αγγλία και τον κοινοβουλευτισμό της. Σημαντικά ορόσημα, η γαλλική επανάσταση, το 1848, αλλά και διαδικασίες ενοποίησης σε κράτη της Γερμανίας, της Ιταλίας και φυσικά ένας γεμάτος 20ος αιώνας.

Πράγματα που δε γνώριζα:

Η άνοδος του φασισμού στην Ιταλία, αμέσως μετά το τέλος του Ά Π.Π. Η Ιταλία εισήλθε κάπως αργά στον πόλεμο, καθώς δε το ζήτησε ο λαός, ούτε το επιδίωξαν τα κόμματα. Η συμφωνία με τους συμμάχους ήταν η προσάρτηση εδαφών της Αυστροουγγαρίας, η οποία δεν τηρήθηκε, έτσι ώστε στον λαό βγήκε ηττημένη.

Η εγκαθίδρυση των κομμουνιστικών καθεστώτων στην Ανατολική Ευρώπη βασίστηκε πέραν των άλλων στις εθνικοποιήσεις βιομηχανιών, τραπεζών κτλ, οι οποίες έγιναν σχετικά εύκολα, αφού νωρίτερα είχαν περάσει στον έλεγχο των ναζί, οι οποίοι και τις εκχώρησαν σε Γερμανούς, οπότε για να επιστραφούν στους ιδιώτες έπρεπε να παρέμβει το κράτος.

Ενδιαφέρουσα είναι και η ιστορία της Ισπανίας που έως τον 17ο αιώνα είχαν προσαρτηθεί έπειτα από τον βασιλικό γάμο του Φερδινάνδου της Αραγονίας και της Ισαβέλλας της Καστίλης. Κάποια στιγμή εν ενάγκη κάποιων οικονομικών μεταρρυθμίσεων ξεκίνησαν αποσχιστικές εξεγέρσεις, οπότε και η Πορτογαλία ανεξαρτητοποιήθηκε οριστικά, καθώς και τμήμα της Καταλονίας πέρασε μια και καλή στην Γαλλία.

[Emmanouil · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5 αστεράκια.
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια ιστορικών γεγονότων με σχετικά καλή πολιτική ανάλυση μέχρι το 1945. Από εκεί και πέρα ο ιδεολογικός χρωματισμός της έγινε έντονος και βαθιά υποκειμενικός χωρίς να κρατάει αποστάσεις. Πολύ καλή η δομή του βιβλίου καθώς και η εισαγωγή και τα συμπεράσματα στην αρχή και στο τέλος των κεφαλαίων αντίστοιχα.

[Sami Eerola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that is not just the history of modern Europe and how democracy was development in stages that where often interrupted by dictatorships and civil wars, but a great history of how social change actually happens and the evolution of right and left political spectrums.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book revolutionized my understanding of how consolidated liberal democracy comes to be. In fact, I wasn't clear what consolidated or liberal or democracy requires or the degree these terms vary depending on the analyst. Bergman provides pocket histories of many parts of Europe which ultimately became nation states. These histories show how many small groups of people may coalesce into a single highly organized unit with a common cultural identity which sometimes can support a liberal democracy. I was surprised how fragmented and disorganized people originally were in Europe. For example, I was shocked that the peninsula that we now call Italy was home to many tiny polities and "in the early 1860s probably only about 2.5 percent [spoke Italian]". I had assumed that the Roman Empire would leave behind a centrally organized and culturally and linguistically homogenized peninsula. But, apparently, classic empires barely begun the process of organization and centralization necessary for a modern state. Feudal kingdoms centralize into absolutist monarchies. Absolutist monarchies broaden their appeal into democracies or populist dictatorships to mobilize ever greater portions of their populations. The evolution of culturally, religiously and linguistically fragmented peoples into many million strong nations is at least as complex as the evolution of a modern state and not necessarily contemporaneous. And, finally, given a strong state and a cohesive nation, there is the economic and social evolution needed to allow liberal democracy to consolidate. This includes social organization and education to allow broad informed participation and regulatory and justice systems to limit inequality and corruption. No wonder Sudan didn't shift seamlessly into liberal democracy when Omar al-Bashir was overthrown.

[Andreas Haraldstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tour de force of modern European history. Berman boils the political history of the last two+ centuries into the struggle of building liberal democracies. Her major contribution is to show that consolidating stable democratic regimes usually is both a long and and arduous process full of interruptions, false starts and backslides. For example, it took France about 170 years from its first democratic experiment until liberal democracy was consolidated. This warns us about seeing the establishment and consolidation of liberal democracies as a "natural" process. Stable liberal democratic systems require conscious work. It also gives new and valuable perspectives on the struggles the third world has faced in consolidating democratic systems and the democratic backsliding taking place across much of the world today.

It must be added that Berman is not a historian, but a political scientist and this book falls under the historical approach within comparative politics. This naturally means that the book, rather than more descriptive historical works, seeks to establish normative patterns. In my mind, this is a worthy endeavour. It is refreshing to see her ignoring some of the ambiguity in order to elicit patterns. I especially like the use of "modern political scientist terms" such as "hybrid-regime", "authoritarian dictatorship", "electoral/illiberal democracy" to describe everything from Ancién Regime France to Bismarck's Germany and Communist Poland. I also find it interesting how she clearly separates state, nation and democracy building as three different processes and that difficulties ensue when polities, such as in interwar Eastern Europe or decolonized Africa have to do all three at the same time.

[Peter Lindstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A combination of historical research and comparative politics, Berman's book is vital if for no other reason our understanding of democracy is more myth than fact. Using Europe as a starting point, Berman proves virtually all successful governing systems started on the basis of awarding privileges, not representing populations. Therefore democracy evolved over the centuries—and always on distinct characteristics when more privileged classes or sectors. What we know as representative democracy is a fairly new—and rarely practiced concept.

Berman shows how democratic forms of governance have prevailed over the years, especially when coupled with more equalitarian economic system. Today, both populism and a libertinism inspired by economist F.A. Hayek (who often declared dictatorships and authoritarian states were preferable to social democracies like Sweden or Germany) are now becoming the harshest critics of democracy. When you hear the refrain first coined by the John Birch Society, that "America is a republic, not a democracy," it is a cry for the system of privileges over representation.

[Amanda Cora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I would say this is a very informative book. Much more qualitative which I think makes it easier for the layperson to read. Good historical perspective, especially now!

[Jan Goericke · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe: From the Ancien Régime to the Present Day" (Audiobook)
by Sheri Berman is a detailed description of the development of democracies in various European countries starting with the French revolution and ending with the present day (2021) political situation in Europe.

The book is structured such that the author first provides the political, economical, historical, and social background leading up to a change in the system for broader context. The reader will learn about the developments from aristocratic to democratic societies (and all interim steps) in countries like France, England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, and more. After the initial background, the author describes the events that lead to change, the outcome, and (if applicable) impact on other countries. Each section then ends in a short summary.

Aside from the detailed analysis of political events, the reader is provided with a wealth of historic information. This information can then be used for follow-on deep dives if desired. However, having a side-by-side comparison of democratic developments makes it easy to gain insight into the factors influencing democratic developments, why it is difficult, and why there were many setbacks in several countries and throughout history. This type of narrative is exactly what I was hoping for since it allows to retain information due to the narration of the backdrop and important details. I therefore highly recommend this book as an audiobook.

Since I was a witness, I found the section on the changes in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 especially interesting and discovered how much I had missed about the changes in countries since I was so involved in what happened in my native East Germany.

Since academic in nature and structure, the book used repetition as a tool for learning. Although I appreciated the summaries at each chapter (which is especially important for audiobooks of this type), I found that some paragraphs were verbatim repeated in the book for which I deducted a star in my rating. After all the detail that was provided in the book, I had also hoped for a more concise summary at the end of the book. In all this did not detract from my appreciation to the work of the author.

[Stephen Morrissey · Rating 4 out of 5]

If history does not repeat itself, it most certainly rhymes,and Sheri Berman delivers a powerful argument that the crisis of democracy the Western world face sin 2019 is far from new. Berman marches through European history, from the reign of Louis XIV through the lifting of the Iron Curtain over Eastern Europe at the end of the Cold War, showing how democracy has ebbed and flowed, while dictatorships have morphed and changed, and also constantly pushed back against pro-democracy forces.

What we learn in these pages is that democratic development is quite uneven. The post-World War II "stability" that many consider the norm of history is anything but: France, Germany, even Great Britain could not be considered full-blown democracies until the 20th Century, and even then such societies faced the fear-mongering, chauvinism, and bigotry that continues to plague 21st Century societies.

One of the major themes that emerges is the safeguarding of democracy: when there is wide buy-in that the democratic process works, it does just that. However, when parties toss away ties to constitutionalism, democracy cannot survive long. It remains to be seen how far-right populism will evolve into the 2020s, but certainly one thing to watch for will be how such parties act within their republican frameworks, and how much they defer to constitutionalism or stray beyond its bounds.

Berman performs an excellent, prescient service in her re-telling of modern European history. As often is the case with history, perhaps solace can be found in the fact that our forebears faced threats, and were equally as perplexed by those threats in real-time, to the rule of the people.

[Daniel Silliman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a big, dense book that seeks to establish a pattern for democracy and dictatorship, looking at the struggle to build democracies, the forces against it, and the regular temptation and turn towards authoritarianism. Sheri Berman takes the reader through large swaths of European history and one reason to read this book is just for the crash course on the revolutions and reforms shaping modern France, Britain, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

This somewhat works to identify patterns. There are some the book establishes very clearly and helpfully (like the regular emergence of a strongman / populist who capitalizes on the destruction of institutions after the initial burst of democratic fervor but offers authoritarian order, ala Cromwell and Bonaparte) and others that remain stubbornly abstract or just don't come into the analysis. I really wanted more on the cultural practices and habits that support and sustain democracy, teaching people how to work in and trust that system, which is not of interest to this book.

I think this is a very valuable book to anyone interested in these big questions. I'm less convinced Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe succeeded on its own terms.

[Gabriel Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and thought-provoking

An interesting and thought-provoking book about the seesaw between democracy and dictatorship in Europe over the past few centuries. You don’t have to agree with everything the author says to find it relevant and worth reading. Two points stand out: the first is that liberalism and democracy are not necessarily the same thing. The second, particularly important over the past 30 years, is that the move to a liberal democracy has never been smooth and uninterrupted, not even in countries today seeing as paragons of this type like the United Kingdom or France. However, this also means that we should not give up hope just because a country seems to be heading in the “wrong” direction.

[Ivy Hamerly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fluid narrative that sums up sweeping changes in Europe over the last 500 years. Berman describes the Ancien Regime and its foundations. Next she moves to the disequilibrium that killed off the Ancien Regime and culminated in WWI and WWII. She describes the new equilibrium that Europe established in the post-WWII ear and then the current disequilibrium. The parallels between the two eras of disruption were interesting and sobering. I enjoyed reading this. Berman wrote this book using her lecture notes for a class she teaches. I wish I could sit in on the class!

[Simon Carr · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a very worthy, leaden summary of her lecture notes for a series of lectures on the evolution of democracy and dictators in europe over the period she’s defined. The data is accurate, the style is leaden and the chapter structure doesn’t flow in a particularly coherent fashion. if you’re taking a very serious course on the subject/period, fine - otherwise find a collection of authors who write in a readable manner about the subject. Two stars because the facts are accurate - zero for style.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Four key takeaways: Healthy political institutions are the bedrock of any democracy’s success. The dismantling of Europe’s old, socio-economic institutions, the ‘Ancien Regime,’ generated massive political contentions in philosophy that still resonate to this day. Democratic backsliding can occur through elections by means of illiberal social movements. Finally, national identity formation is crucial but often messy, and its legacy can be painful.

[Jill Cordry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a remarkably informative book. It is much easier to remove an existing regime than to instill and consolidate a liberal democracy. The latter can and often does take decades or centuries and depends greatly on the type of institutions and society that existed before. A must read.

[Trevor Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this for a class and it was one of my favorite books to read. It helps to explain how democracy develops and why certain things like trade liberalization are needed. It is a very important book for anyone who is trying to understand the foundations of Democracy

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thought-provoking and insightful account of the history of liberal democracy. No time to elaborate, because university.

[Russell Chee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a bit skimmy in its treatment of case studies (in other words it's more interested in the details than the links or the ideas), and the author doesn't really go in depth into for instance the circumstances surrounding an event or its implications in the longue duree or so on.

But still three stars because there is much to learn here, especially in the distinctions between various countries - Europe can often seem like a big morass of nation-states and Berman does an admirable job pointing out genuine, not stereotypical, differences.