This book explains why several democracies during the period between the two world wars broke down and others survived, and examines the extent to which present-day democracies are fragile in the face of crises.

Agnes Cornell is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where she teaches Comparative Politics, Public Administration, and Methods. Her work has been published in distinguished journals such as Journal of Politics, Governance, Journal of Peace Research, Democratization, and Journal of Democracy.
Jørgen Møller is Professor at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark, where he teaches Comparative Politics and International Relations. His publications include State Formation, Regime Change, and Economic Development (Routledge, 2017).
Svend-Erik Skaaning is Professor at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark. His publications include The Rule of Law: Definitions, Measures, Patterns, and Causes (with J Møller, Palgrave, 2014).

• Introduction


• Part I: Setting the Stage


• 1: An Age of Crisis


• 2: Interwar Democracies and Dictatorships


• Part II: Theoretical Framework


• 3: Pillars of Democratic Stability


• Part III: Comparative Analyses


• 4: Democratic Legacies, the Associational Landscape, and Democratic Survival


• 5: Economic Crisis and Democratic Breakdown


• Part IV: Case Studies


• 6: Denmark and the United Kingdom


• 7: Uruguay and France


• Conclusion


• Appendix I: Coding of Democratic Spells in the Interwar Period


• Appendix II: Descriptive Statistics and Robustness Checks of Statistical Analyses