Democracy in postwar Western Europe: The triumph of a political model

European History Quarterly

Volumn 32, Issue 1, 2002, Pages

  Conway, Martin ^a  

^a BALLIOL COLLEGE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Christian democracy; Cold war; Democracy; European integration; Second world war

Indexed keywords

EID: 34247463079     PISSN: 02656914     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0269142002032001562     Document Type: Article

References (97)

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2. See also A. Groth, Democracies against Hitler: Myth, Reality and Prologue (Aldershot 1999).
3. At an individual level, this change in political fashions also caused political figures to change their attitude to democracy. In Belgium, the Socialist Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak had been one of the fiercest critics of parliamentary politics during the 1930s, advocating its replacement by a somewhat authoritarian 'socialisme national'. After 1945, however, he re-fashioned himself as a staunch defender of Western parliamentary democracy: see M. Dumoulin, Paul-Henri Spaak (Brussels 1999).
4. H.R. Kedward, 'Introduction', in H.R. Kedward and N. Wood, eds, The Liberation of France: Image and Event (Oxford and Washington, DC 1995), 1-9;
5. D.W. Ellwood, Italy, 1943-1945 (Leicester 1985), 184-6;
6. R. Boehling, A Question of Priorities: Democratic Reform and Recovery in Postwar Germany (New York and Oxford 1996), 162-77.
7. M. Conway, 'Justice in Postwar Belgium: Popular Passions and Political Realities', in I. Deak, J. Gross and T. Judt, eds, The Politics of Retribution in Europe: World War II and its Aftermath (Princeton 2000), 152;
8. R. Damiani and J.-P. Thuillier, 'Introduction à l'histoire orale de la région du Nord', Revue du Nord, Vol. 57 (1975), 313-28.
9. J.-P. Rioux, The Fourth Republic, 1944-1958 (Cambridge 1987), 109;
10. P. Ginsborg, A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics 1943-1988 (London 1990), 100-1.
11. C. Duggan, 'Italy in the Cold War Years and the Legacy of Fascism', in C. Duggan and C. Wagstaff, eds, Italy in the Cold War: Politics, Culture and Society, 1948-58 (Oxford and Washington, DC 1995), 3-6;
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15. Rioux, op. cit., 107-9;
16. D. Sassoon, One Hundred Years of Socialism: The West European Left in the Twentieth Century (London and New York 1996), 131.
17. A. Lijphart, The Politics of Accommodation: Pluralism and Democracy in the Netherlands (Berkeley and Los Angeles 1968);
18. K.R. Luther, 'From Accommodation to Competition: The " Normalization" of the Second Republic's Party System', in K.R. Luther and P. Pulzer, eds, Austria, 1945-1995: Fifty Years of the Second Republic (Aldershot 1998), 126-30.
19. H. Diamond, Women and the Second World War in France, 1939-48: Choices and Constraints (Harlow 1999), 184;
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22. M. Ignatieff, Isaiah Berlin: A Life (London 1998);
23. P. Grémion, Intelligence de l'anticommunisme (Paris 1995);
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25. M. Mazower, Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century (London 1998), xi.
26. See also Boehling, op. cit., 209.
27. B. Marshall, 'The Democratization of Local Politics in the British Zone of Germany: Hanover, 1945-47', Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 21 (1986), 445.
28. Sassoon, op. cit., 137-49;
29. P. Baldwin, The Politics of Social Solidarity: Class Bases of the European Welfare State, 1875-1975 (Cambridge 1990), 158-62;
30. H.L. Wilensky, 'Leftism, Catholicism and Democratic Corporatism: The Role of Political Parties in Recent Welfare State Development', in P. Flora and A.J. Heidenheimer, eds, The Development of Welfare States in Europe and America (New Brunswick and London 1981), 345-82.
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35. E.g. T. Judt, ed., Resistance and Revolution in Mediterranean Europe, 1939-1948 (London and New York 1989);
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37. T. Sfikas, The British Labour Government and the Greek Civil War, 1945-1949: The Imperialism of Non-intervention (Keele 1994);
38. Ellwood, op. cit., 241;
39. D.W. Ellwood, 'Italy, Europe and the Cold War: The Politics and Economics of Limited Sovereignty', in Duggan and Wagstaff, eds, op. cit., 25-46.
40. US influence was, of course, not confined to southern Europe. US policies had a formative influence on the character of postwar German politics: D.E. Rogers, 'Transforming the German Party System: The United States and the Origins of Political Moderation, 1945-1949', Journal of Modern History, Vol. 65 (1993), 512-41.
41. This is the interpretation presented in Mark Mazower's influential and persuasive work Dark Continent, 294-6.
42. J. Keegan, 'Do We Need a New History of the Second World War?', in S. Ekman and N. Edling, eds, War Experience and National Identity: The Second World War as Myth and History (Södertälje 1997), 84.
43. L. Taylor, Between Resistance and Collaboration: Popular Protest in Northern France, 1940-45 (Basingstoke and London 2000), 147.
44. For example, A. Lefébure, Les conversations secrètes des français sous l'occupation (Paris 1993)
45. and B. Groult and F. Groult, Journal à quatre mains (Paris 1994).
46. See also Boehling, op. cit., 275
47. and Marshall, op. cit., 446.
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53. S. Reynolds, France between the Wars: Gender and Politics (London and New York 1996).
54. See also the perceptive analysis of postwar consumer culture in E. Carter, How German Is She? Postwar German Reconstruction and the Consuming Woman (Ann Arbor 1997).
55. Kuisel, op. cit., 38.
56. C. Schorske, 'Politics in a New Key: An Austrian Trio', Journal of Modern History, Vol. 39 (1967), 343-86.
57. Vinen, op. cit., 364-7.
58. The evolution of European Socialist parties towards a Volkspartei strategy capable of appealing to all strata of the population reflected this change in political culture. See D. Parness, The SPD and the Challenge of Mass Politics: The Dilemma of the German Volkspartei (Boulder 1991);
59. S. Timperman, '1945-1954. Le PSB s'ouvre aux classes moyennes', Revue belge d'histoire contemporaine, Vol. 28 (1998), 445-98.
60. R. Vinen, The Politics of French Business, 1936-45 (Cambridge 1991);
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62. J. Gérard-Libois and J. Gotovitch, L'an 40 (Brussels 1971);
63. Y. Le Maner, 'Town Councils of the Nord and Pas-de-Calais Region: Local Power, French Power, German Power', in T. Kirk and A. McElligott, eds, Opposing Fascism: Community, Authority and Resistance in Europe (Cambridge 1999), 97-119;
64. Marshall, op. cit., 413-51;
65. Boehling, op. cit., 271.
66. M. Conway, Catholic Politics in Europe, 1918-1945 (London and New York 1997), 40-4;
67. M. Agostino, Le Pape Pie XI et l'opinion publique (1922-1939) (Rome 1991).
68. V. Drapac, War and Religion : Catholics in the Churches of Occupied Paris (Washington, DC 1998).
69. J.-L. Clément, Monseigneur Saliège, archevêque de Toulouse, 1929-1956 (Paris 1994);
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71. E. Frei, 'Brot und Sinn. Katholizismus und Caritasarbeit in der Zusammenbruchgesellschaft 1945', Historisches Jahrbuch, Vol. 117 (1997), 129-46;
72. W. Blessing, '"Deutschland in Not, wir im Glauben . . .". Kirche und Kirchenvolk in einer katholischen Region, 1933-1949', in M. Broszat, K.-D. Henke and H. Woller, eds, Von Stalingrad zur Währungsreform. Zur Sozialgeschichte des Umbruchs in Deutschland (Munich 1988), 3-111.
73. J. McMillan, 'France', in T. Buchanan and M. Conway, eds, Political Catholicism in Europe (Oxford 1996), 61;
74. P. Pasture, 'Entre église et citoyen', in Un parti dans l'histoire, 1945-1995. 50 ans d'action du Parti Social Chrétien (Louvain-la-Neuve 1996), 269-70;
75. M. Conway, 'The Age of Christian Democracy: The Frontiers of Success and Failure', in T. Ksehnan, ed., Christian Democracy: Comparative Perspectives and Future Prospects (Notre Dame, forthcoming).
76. C. Warner, Confessions of an Interest Group: The Catholic Church and Political Parties in Europe (Princeton 2000).
77. E. Roussel, Jean Monnet (Paris 1996);
78. P. Mioche, Le plan Monnet. Genèse et élaboration 1941-1947 (Paris 1987).
79. Rioux, op. cit., 218-23.
80. M. Fulbrook, Germany 1918-1990: The Divided Nation (London 1991), 254-6;
81. Luther, op. cit., 130;
82. M. Conway, 'The Age of Christian Democracy'.
83. The wartime history of the working class is a field that demands further research. See Taylor, op. cit
84. and Behan, op. cit.
85. E.g. D. Luyten, Sociaal-economisch overleg in België sedert 1918 (Brussels 1995), 123-56.
86. A rather different school of interpretation stresses how the corporatist structures established after 1945 strengthened the influence of working-class organizations over governmental decisions. See, for an example of this argument, S. Berger, 'European Labour Movements and the European Working Class in Comparative Perspective', in S. Berger and D. Broughton, eds, The Western European Labour Movement and the Working Class in the Twentieth Century (Oxford and Washington, DC 1995), 247.
87. R.O. Paxton, French Peasant Fascism (New York and Oxford 1997);
88. J. Osmond, Rural Protest in the Weimar Republic: The Free Peasantry in the Rhineland and Bavaria (New York and Basingstoke 1993);
89. R.G. Moeller, German Peasants and Agrarian Politics, 1914-1924: The Rhineland and Westphalia (Chapel Hill and London 1986).
90. G. Noël, France, Allemagne et 'Europe Verte' (Bern 1995).
91. A.J. Nicholls, The Bonn Republic: West German Democracy, 1945-1990 (London and New York 1997), 107-8;
92. A. Parisella, 'La base sociale della Democrazia Cristiana Italiana. Elettorato, iscritti e organizzazione', in E. Lamberts, ed., Christian Democracy in the European Union (Leuven 1997), 197;
93. W. Müller, F. Plasser and P. Ulram, 'Wähler und Mitgleider der ÖVP 1945-1994', in R. Kreichbaumer and F. Schausberger, eds, Volkspartei: Anspruch und Realität (Vienna 1995), 171-2.
94. Mazower, op. cit., 305.
95. R. Van Doorslaer, 'De oorlog tussen continuïteit en verandering. Vragen en Problemen', in L. Huyse and K. Hoflack, eds, De democratie heruitgevonden. Oud en nieuw in politick België, 1944-1950 (Leuven 1995), 17-26.
96. See also the comments of Tony Judt in his Preface to Deak, Gross and Judt, eds, op. cit., ix-xii.
97. A. Marwick, The Sixties: Cultural Revolution in Britain, France, Italy and the United States, c.1958-c.1974 (Oxford 1998).