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Forging Democracy
By Geoff Eley
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Description
Neither given nor granted, democracy requires conflict, often violent confrontations, and challenges to the established political order. In Europe, Geoff Eley convincingly shows, democracy did not evolve organically out of a natural consensus, the achievement of prosperity, or the negative cement of the Cold War. Rather, it was painstakingly crafted, continually expanded, and doggedly defended by varying constellations of socialist, feminist, Communist, and other radical movements that originally blossomed in the later nineteenth century. Parties of the Left championed democracy in the revolutionary crisis after World War I, salvaged it against the threat of fascism, and renewed its growth after 1945. They organised civil societies rooted in egalitarian ideals which came to form the very fibre of Europe's current democratic traditions. The trajectories of European democracy and the history of the European Left are thus inextricably bound together.
Geoff Eley has given us the first truly comprehensive history of the European Left--its successes and failures; its high watermarks and its low tides; its accomplishments, insufficiencies, and excesses; and, most importantly, its formative, lasting influence on the European political landscape. At a time when the Left's influence and legitimacy are frequently called into question, Forging Democracy passionately upholds its vital contribution.
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Edition:
1
Number of Pages:
722
Release Date:
2002-04-11
Publication Date:
2002-04-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Languages:
Original:
English
ISBN10:
0195044797
ISBN13:
9780195044799
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
Weight:
1077 g
Height:
156 cm
Width:
234 cm
Thickness:
39 cm
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