What is it about?
What enables a liberal democracy to survive in a capitalist society? How did Weimar Germany, one of the first modern welfare states, balance the interests of working people and economic elites? What leads elites to undermine democracy, and what happens when they do? Theoretically sophisticated within a Marxist tradition and deeply researched in both public and private archives, The Collapse of the Weimar Republic analyzes the complex political economy of inter-war Germany and examines why and how Germany’s economic and political leaders turned away from social democracy and international integration, instead turning to the Nazi party to preserve their dominance.
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Why is it important?
In much of the world, we are seeing right-wing populism coalesce with elite interests in undermining liberal and social democratic systems. The Weimar Republic informs our understanding of how vulnerable liberal democracies become when elites abandon them in order to protect their material interests. Add to that, the presence of a mass base for authoritarian leaders, and true disaster is possible. Weimar was a laboratory for many things and helps us understand the present moment. This book unlocks Weimar's puzzles and some of our own.
Perspectives
I, like so many others, came of age thinking of Nazism and the Holocaust as the nadir of 20th Century history, if not of European civilization altogether. And indeed they were. But how was it that the opportunity for Nazi success emerged in a somewhat stable capitalist democracy-- Weimar Germany. Analyzing the political economy of Weimar provided me a key for seeing how vulnerable liberal democracies are to the interests of those who dominate it, and how high the price can be if they abandon that costly liberal and social democracy. ” David Abraham University of Miami
David Abraham
University of Miami
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This page is a summary of: Preliminary Material, July 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004736573_001.
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