Overview
- Explores the economic history of interwar Europe from the perspective of family farmers and rural communities
- Contains case studies from over 20 countries spread across Western, Eastern and Central Europe
- Examines the changing role of farming and agriculture in the broader politics of the time
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Economic History (PEHS)
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About this book
This book examines how European farmers responded to the economic and political challenges created by the First World War and the Great Depression. The difficulties of interwar Europe have been frequently explored, but rarely from the perspective of the agricultural sector, where two-fifths of the population earned their livelihood, mostly as small, family farmers.
The traditional literature argues that the landed elites conspired to undermine many of Europe's young democracies after the Great War. This book shows instead that by the early 1920s most had either sold their land or seen it confiscated following the widespread land reforms of Eastern Europe, leaving the family farm as the dominant unit of production. The book advances several theories that place the family farmer at the heart of change and explores why some proved to be enthusiastic supporters of liberal democracy, while others preferred political ideologies as diverse as social democracy in Scandinavia or fascism in Germany and Italy. It explores the nuanced and evolving links between family farms and government interests, showing how this relationship varied in different countries and contexts across Western and Central Europe. The book discusses the impact of family farms on agricultural market trends, the influence of collective action on government policies, and the increasing politicization of farmers and rural populations more broadly. The book also sheds light on how agrarian problems and their solutions differed in industrial, agrarian, and transforming societies in interwar Europe. This book will be an illuminating read for scholars of economic history, comparative history and European history interested in agriculture and rural communities.
Keywords
- Agriculture and the Great Depression
- European politics in the interwar period
- Family farmers and fascism
- Soviet Union
- Collectives
- Farm cooperatives and commodity chains
- Agriculture and the State
- Land reform
- Agrarianism
- Food security in interwar Europe
- Price stabilization funds
- Rural revolution
- Landed elites in Europe
Table of contents (11 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
James Simpson is Emeritus Professor of Economic History at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. He has published extensively in economic history, Spanish economic history, agricultural history, the history of the wine industry, and economic development in Spain and Europe.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Family Farmers, Land Reforms and Political Action
Book Subtitle: An Alternative Economic History of Interwar Europe
Authors: James Simpson
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Economic History
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67281-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-67280-4Published: 28 August 2024
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-67283-5Due: 11 September 2025
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-67281-1Published: 27 August 2024
Series ISSN: 2662-6497
Series E-ISSN: 2662-6500
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 269
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Economic History, European History, Agricultural Economics