The authors of this volume challenge conventional notions about Habsburg
and Czechoslovak politics, arguing that they were more democratic than
they often appear. At combining political science and history, the
authors' guiding principle and means of analysis is the consociational
model of democracy. This theory, linked best to Arend Lijphart, asserts
that consociationalism guarantees minorities a say in government and
helps preserve democracy in societies that experience deep ideological,
cultural, or ethnic divisions. It enables the main segments to be
isolated organizationally from each other, thus avoiding conflict, and
affording the leaders to make compromises for the good of the whole.
Consociationalism has proven its worth as a model for describing
contemporary democracies and diagnosing their ills. By exploring the
institutions and practices of the Habsburg Monarchy before 1918 and the
Czechoslovak First Republic, Howe, Lorman, and Miller prove the value of
the consociational theory at analyzing the past. They hold that a
multitude of parties, frequent cabinet changes, and reliance on circles
of experts do not necessarily signal flawed democracies, when, in fact,
they are features of consociationalism. This book is a call to
specialists to view current politics not just in terms of majoritarian
democracy but rather by the standard of the consociational democracies.
