In The Resilience of the Old Regime, David Art reevaluates the so-called first wave of democratization in Western Europe through the lens of authoritarian resilience. He argues that non-democrats succeeded to a very large degree in managing, diverting, disrupting, and repressing democratic movements until the end of the First World War. This was true both in states political scientists have long considered either full democracies or democratic vanguards (such as the UK and Sweden), as well as in others (such as Germany and Italy) that appeared to be democratizing. He challenges both the Whiggish view that democracy in the West moved progressively forward, and the influential theory that threats of revolution explain democratization. Drawing on extensive historical sources and data, Art recasts European political development from 1832–1919 as a period in which competitive oligarchies and competitive authoritarian regimes predominated.

‘The Resilience of the Old Regime is a bold and original take on the ‘first wave of democratization.’ Art has painstakingly recovered the significance of the undemocratic regimes that dominated nineteenth-century Europe. Like today’s authoritarian regimes, these incorporated trappings of democracy. But they were neither transitional nor unstable steps on a road to democracy. They were successful attempts to preserve elite power, and survived internal challenges until wrecked by global war. The book will change how we think of the origins of democracy, and suggests that the regimes being created today to preserve elite power might be more resilient than usually appreciated.’

David A. Bateman - Cornell University

‘The Resilience of the Old Regime is an erudite and original analysis addressing a research question that is both critical and understudied: How do authoritarian regimes evade democratic progress? Studying old regimes in Europe between 1832 and 1919, Art not only identifies various strategies, some of which authoritarian regimes still employ today, but also effectively challenges established ways of conceptualizing democracy and categorizing historical cases, and forces us to rethink the comparative role of war and class-based theories of democratization.’

H. Zeynep Bulutgil - University College London