Social Forces and Changes of Political Regime: The Question of Democratic Development

Abstract

History provides many examples of the transformation of political regimes. Over the last 15 to 20 years, a number of remarkable changes in the types of regime have taken place around the world, including parts of southern Europe, Latin America and now, more recently, eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In both Germany and Austria the peasants and the petty bourgeoisie in the towns resisted democracy and in the late 1920s and the 1930s they went over to fascism. Recent changes of political regime in several European and Latin American countries have generated an extensive and growing literature. The concept of social forces can be clarified with the help of a distinction made by Charles Tilly between ‘social behaviour’ and ‘social action’. Pluralism in the fascist type is restricted to rivalry and the clash of interests between different sections of the ruling elite.