The Rise and Fall of the People's Parties: A History of Democracy in Western Europe since 1918 (2024)

Online ISBN:

9780191926037

Print ISBN:

9780192843418

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

Book

Get access

Pepijn Corduwener

Pepijn Corduwener

Associate Professor, Utrecht University

Find on

Oxford Academic

Published:

10 August 2023

Online ISBN:

9780191926037

Print ISBN:

9780192843418

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

Cite

Corduwener, Pepijn, The Rise and Fall of the People's Parties: A History of Democracy in Western Europe since 1918 (Oxford, 2023; online edn, Oxford Academic, 24 Aug. 2023), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192843418.001.0001, accessed 16 May 2024.

Close

Search

Close

Search

Advanced Search

Search Menu

Abstract

The decline of the centre-left and centre-right people’s parties is arguably the most poignant feature of the crisis of democracy in Western Europe today. To understand why, this book explores the striking parallels between the life of democracy and that of the people’s parties over the course of the past century. It offers a transnational window on the history of democracy since 1918 by weaving together three epochs which are often studied apart: democracy’s troubled history in the Interwar era; the trente glorieuses after the Second World War; and the period since the 1970s. The book shows that democracy was only stabilized and legitimized when people’s parties emerged that managed to balance between facilitating popular participation from below, bridging divisions between social groups, and practising the politics of compromise. Ideas for such parties existed already in the first decades of the twentieth century. Nonetheless, Socialist and Catholic mass parties failed to transform into people’s parties, which was essential for the crisis (and breakdown) of democracy in the Interwar era. This was a traumatic experience which contributed to the unexpected stabilization of democracy after 1945 as party leaders transformed their organizations into broad-based people’s parties that embraced compromise and responsibility. However, this stability did not last, and paradoxically their transformation also harboured the seeds of democracy’s more recent problems. Over the past decades, people’s parties have struggled to connect to an individualizing society while having become increasingly absorbed by their governing responsibilities.

Keywords: democracy, history, political parties, people’s parties, Christian democracy, Social democracy, crisis, populism, twentieth century, Western Europe

Subject

European History Political History

Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online

Contents

This is an open access publication, available online and distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), a copy of which is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Subject to this license, all rights are reserved.

Sign in

Get help with access

Personal account

  • Sign in with email/username & password
  • Get email alerts
  • Save searches
  • Purchase content
  • Activate your purchase/trial code
  • Add your ORCID iD

Sign in Register

Institutional access

    Sign in through your institution

    Sign in through your institution

  1. Sign in with a library card
  2. Sign in with username/password
  3. Recommend to your librarian

Institutional account management

Sign in as administrator

Get help with access

Institutional access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Sign in through your institution

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.

  1. Click Sign in through your institution.
  2. Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
  3. When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
  4. Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Sign in with a library card

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:

  1. Click Sign in through society site.
  2. When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
  3. Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

Personal account

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

  • View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
  • View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

Institutional account management

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Purchase

Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.

Purchasing information

Citations

Views

1,311

Altmetric

More metrics information

Metrics

Total Views 1,311

1,035 Pageviews

276 PDF Downloads

Since 8/1/2023

Month: Total Views:
August 2023 11
August 2023 12
August 2023 12
August 2023 8
August 2023 9
August 2023 11
August 2023 12
August 2023 11
August 2023 9
August 2023 1
August 2023 4
August 2023 17
August 2023 9
August 2023 10
August 2023 5
August 2023 1
August 2023 10
August 2023 14
August 2023 10
August 2023 4
August 2023 11
September 2023 3
September 2023 15
September 2023 1
September 2023 2
September 2023 3
September 2023 3
September 2023 5
September 2023 5
September 2023 3
September 2023 2
September 2023 1
September 2023 3
September 2023 6
September 2023 4
September 2023 12
September 2023 3
September 2023 5
September 2023 1
September 2023 3
September 2023 3
September 2023 4
October 2023 5
October 2023 4
October 2023 3
October 2023 2
October 2023 1
October 2023 4
October 2023 3
October 2023 3
October 2023 1
October 2023 2
October 2023 6
October 2023 6
October 2023 5
October 2023 4
October 2023 2
October 2023 16
October 2023 2
October 2023 2
November 2023 3
November 2023 1
November 2023 1
November 2023 2
November 2023 1
November 2023 1
November 2023 3
November 2023 4
November 2023 3
November 2023 6
November 2023 5
November 2023 2
November 2023 53
December 2023 11
December 2023 8
December 2023 8
December 2023 3
December 2023 7
December 2023 2
December 2023 3
December 2023 6
December 2023 6
December 2023 13
December 2023 13
December 2023 21
December 2023 4
December 2023 5
December 2023 5
December 2023 2
December 2023 12
December 2023 13
December 2023 33
December 2023 6
December 2023 8
January 2024 9
January 2024 6
January 2024 6
January 2024 2
January 2024 5
January 2024 12
January 2024 8
January 2024 9
January 2024 1
January 2024 7
January 2024 1
January 2024 19
January 2024 4
January 2024 6
January 2024 8
January 2024 7
January 2024 2
January 2024 13
January 2024 40
January 2024 3
January 2024 9
February 2024 2
February 2024 3
February 2024 8
February 2024 5
February 2024 5
February 2024 4
February 2024 13
February 2024 1
February 2024 6
February 2024 7
February 2024 2
February 2024 5
February 2024 14
February 2024 6
February 2024 2
February 2024 1
February 2024 28
March 2024 3
March 2024 3
March 2024 1
March 2024 7
March 2024 2
March 2024 2
March 2024 4
March 2024 1
March 2024 5
March 2024 63
March 2024 4
March 2024 11
March 2024 2
March 2024 17
March 2024 3
April 2024 3
April 2024 6
April 2024 10
April 2024 2
April 2024 7
April 2024 6
April 2024 9
April 2024 5
April 2024 6
April 2024 2
April 2024 1
April 2024 9
April 2024 69
April 2024 10
April 2024 3
April 2024 1
April 2024 27
April 2024 4
May 2024 2
May 2024 1
May 2024 2
May 2024 2
May 2024 6
May 2024 3
May 2024 2
May 2024 1
May 2024 1
May 2024 7
May 2024 41
May 2024 8
May 2024 7
May 2024 1
May 2024 1
May 2024 6

Citations

Powered by Dimensions

Altmetrics

×

More from Oxford Academic

Arts and Humanities

European History

History

Political History

Regional and National History

Books

Journals

The Rise and Fall of the People's Parties: A History of Democracy in Western Europe since 1918 (2024)

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Golda Nolan II

Last Updated:

Views: 6291

Rating: 4.8 / 5 (58 voted)

Reviews: 81% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Golda Nolan II

Birthday: 1998-05-14

Address: Suite 369 9754 Roberts Pines, West Benitaburgh, NM 69180-7958

Phone: +522993866487

Job: Sales Executive

Hobby: Worldbuilding, Shopping, Quilting, Cooking, Homebrewing, Leather crafting, Pet

Introduction: My name is Golda Nolan II, I am a thoughtful, clever, cute, jolly, brave, powerful, splendid person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.