Eine rechtmäßige Diktatur? Estlands Verfassungsentwicklungen in der Zwischenkriegszeit des 20. Jahrhunderts [A legitimate dictatorship? Estonia's constitutional developments in the interwar period of the twentieth century

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Republic of Estonia was one of those European states that emerged as a young democracy after the First World War and experienced an authoritarian turning point in the 1930s. It is still controversial whether the authoritarian turn of 1934 should be interpreted as a legitimate exercise of power by the head of state with some, rather minor deviations from the principle of legality, or as an illegal and unconstitutional coup d'état. There was no military coup or violent seizure of power. The authoritarian regime was introduced by the democratically appointed head of state Konstantin Päts (1874–1956). From a legal-historical point of view, the coup d'état and the subsequent authoritarian regime in Estonia have received little analysis to date. This article therefore focuses on the legal-historical perspective of the coup d'état and the nature of Estonia’s authoritarian regime. In doing so, it contributes to what has been a somewhat neglected historiography.