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Frail Democracy

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Book cover Militant Democracy – Political Science, Law and Philosophy

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations ((PPCE,volume 7))

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Abstract

This article elaborates the argument that a group committed to a democratic mode of governance is likely to experience incapacitating collective action problems when caught off guard by an authoritarian bid to state power. Unless they have a mandate to this effect, office holders cannot a priori presume the capacity or the right to determine the group stance. The rank and file for their part are likely to make their behavior conditional on one another’s in order to fend off the risks inherent to a critical decision. In these conjunctures, democratic renunciation may arise from collective irresolution and indeterminacy. Investigating collective action challenges in times of authoritarian threats complements militant democracy arguments about legal and constitutional tools for democratic self-defense.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Loewenstein 1937, p. 638–658; Rossiter 2002, p. 291–294; Finn 1991, Chap. 1.

  2. 2.

    Ermakoff 2008, p. xi; Ermakoff 2014, p. 236.

  3. 3.

    This point parallels Coleman’s analysis of collective behavior and leadership as resulting from a set of actors’ voluntarily transferring the right to control their action to an actor or an organization, thereby endowing this actor or this organization with the factual capacity to orient or direct their behavior: Coleman 1990, p. 35–36, Chap. 9.

  4. 4.

    Manin et al. 1999, p. 13.

  5. 5.

    Przeworski 1991, p. 10; Manin 1996, p. 224–233.

  6. 6.

    Manin et al. 1999, p. 10.

  7. 7.

    Ermakoff 2008, p. xi, xxvi, 332.

  8. 8.

    Ermakoff 2015, p. 100.

  9. 9.

    The coordination dilemmas generated by critical decisions are to be distinguished from the lack of cooperation resulting from (1) the centrifugal tendencies of a “polarized pluralistic” political system, (Capoccia 2005, p. 180); and (2) the divide-and-conquer strategies of would-be autocrats (Weingast 1997, p. 249). Actors experiencing a decision as critical develop an interest in coordination. By contrast, the failures of cooperation analyzed by Capoccia (2005) and Weingast (1997) result from the emergence of an incentive structure pulling apart constituencies that have much to lose from an authoritarian takeover.

  10. 10.

    Evans 2003, p. 340.

  11. 11.

    Allen 1965, p. 170–181.

  12. 12.

    Emphasis added. “Rheinische Zentrumspartei Generalsekretariat, Köln, den 18. März 1933 Ew. Hochwohlgeboren! Es ist unser dringender Wunsch, sobald wie eben möglich in dieser Zeit politischer Entscheidungen mit unseren Mitarbeitern und Freunden die sich aus der gegenwärtigen Lage ergebenden Folgerungen zu besprechen. Wir bitten Sie, dafür Verständnis zu haben, wenn das im Augenblick noch nicht möglich ist. Wir hoffen aber, Ihnen schon in den nächsten Tagen eine Einladung zu einer solchen Besprechung zukommen lassen zu können, nachdem gewisse Verhandlungen zum Abschluß gekommen sind” (Stadtarchiv Düsseldorf; Abteilung XXI-4: Rheinische Zentrumspartei).

  13. 13.

    “Was wir auch tun, ist verhängnisvoll … Der Inhalt [des Ermächtigungsgesetzes] übertrifft alle Erwartungen” (Hauptstaatsarchiv, Stuttgart, Nachlass Eugen Bolz , Q 1–25, 7, handwritten letter dated March 21).

  14. 14.

    “… sagte ich zu Prälat Schreiber, ich könne mich nicht auseinandersetzen mit den Geschehnissen, ich habe die Kraft nicht mehr, ich könne nur beten” (Kommission für Zeitgeschichte, Bonn, Tagebuchaufzeichnungen von Clara Siebert ; reproduced in: Becker 1961, p. 208.

  15. 15.

    “In dieser Stunde, in der wohl niemand nicht im tiefsten aufgerüttelt war ...” (Bundesarchiv, Coblence, Nachlass Wirth N1342/133, “Die historische Reichstagssitzungen vom 21 und 23 März 1933”, p. 7).

  16. 16.

    Ayçoberry 1999, p. 17.

  17. 17.

    Emphasis added. “Hier ringen wir, jeder für sich, mit der Stellungnahme zu dem unerhörten Ermächtigungsgesetz. Das Für und Wider kann ich nicht schreiben. Die Zwangslage wird uns wohl zu einer Zustimmung bringen” (Hauptstaatsarchiv, Stuttgart, Nachlaß Eugen Bolz , Q 1–25, 7, handwritten letter dated March 22, quoted in: Miller 1951, p. 450).

  18. 18.

    Ermakoff 2008, Chap. 6.

  19. 19.

    Granovetter 1978, p. 1421.

  20. 20.

    Brüning 1970, p. 658.

  21. 21.

    „[Kaas] sei der Hauptschuldige an der ganzen Entwicklung gewesen. Er sei auf die Versprechungen Hitlers, die er tatsächlich in der Reichstagssitzung gemacht habe, hereingefallen” (Bausch 1969, p. 117). Bausch mentions in these memoirs that he was very close to Hélène Weber and that she often talked to him about these few days.

  22. 22.

    Archiv der Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Sankt Augustin, Nachlaß Krone, I-028, 006/5: interview with Knopp and Gotto, p. 10.

  23. 23.

    Draft of an interview with Kusch, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Munich, Archiv Johannes Schauff, ED 346 Nr. 24.

  24. 24.

    Bundesarchiv, Coblence, Nachlaß Kaiser N1018/246, p. 53: “Brüning hat geschwiegen.”

  25. 25.

    “Brüning sprach nicht viel in dieser Stunde” (Kommission für Zeitgeschichte, Bonn, Tagebuchaufzeichnungen von Clara Siebert , p. 111).

  26. 26.

    “Brüning was a conservative, who from the start strove to bring the new social-Christian conservatism to victory” (Joseph Wirth) (Bundesarchiv, Coblence, Nachlaß Wirth N1342/18, III.22).

  27. 27.

    “Brüning ... nahm die Sache so furchtbar ernst, daß er niemand sehen wollte” (Bundesarchiv, Coblence, Nachlaß Wirth N1342/18, III.29).

  28. 28.

    “Jetzt war, was ich tat, entpersönlichte Handlung im Vertrauen auf das, was Brüning tat. Über allen subjektiven Erwägungen, über allem bittern Leid, über allem drängenden Willen zum Bekenntnis: ‘ich kann nicht’ stund jetzt ‘ich tue was Brüning tut’” (Kommission für Zeitgeschichte, Bonn, Tagebuchaufzeichnungen von Clara Siebert , p. 112–113).

  29. 29.

    Ermakoff 2008, Chap. 2.

  30. 30.

    Welzer 2005, p. 58.

  31. 31.

    Bracher 1970, p. 197; Winkler 1989, p. 906.

  32. 32.

    Bracher 1962, p. 261–278. German Catholics and Center party members were not immune to this process. As early as April 25–26, 1933, representatives of Catholic associations convening in Berlin mentioned widespread adhesions to the Nazi party among their constituents, Stasiewski 1968, p. 91; in his memoirs, Brüning 1970, p. 664, makes the same observation.

  33. 33.

    Loewenstein 1937, p. 423–424; Finn 1991, p. 164.

  34. 34.

    Ermakoff 2008, Chaps. 8, 9, Appendix A.

  35. 35.

    Rossiter 2002, p. 8.

  36. 36.

    Rossiter 2002, p. 296–306.

  37. 37.

    Hobbes Thomas, Leviathan, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 123.

  38. 38.

    E.g. Riker 1982; Mackie 2005.

  39. 39.

    Loewenstein 1937, p. 644–654; Capoccia 2005, p. 50–53, 55–62.

  40. 40.

    Kirshner 2014, p. 33–60.

  41. 41.

    I would like to thank Bernard Manin and the external reviewer solicited by the publisher for their comments on the first version of this essay.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. EHESS-Cespra & University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Ivan Ermakoff

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  1. Ivan Ermakoff
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Correspondence to Ivan Ermakoff .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Jurisprudence, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Afshin Ellian

  2. Department of Jurisprudence, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Bastiaan Rijpkema

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Ermakoff, I. (2018). Frail Democracy. In: Ellian, A., Rijpkema, B. (eds) Militant Democracy – Political Science, Law and Philosophy. Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97004-2_3

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