How Post-Imperial Democracies Die: A Comparison of Weimar Germany and Post-Soviet Russia
Journal: SSRN Electronic Journal
Year: 2019

While socioeconomic crisis - like in Germany after World War I and in Russia after the Cold War - is a necessary precondition for democratic erosion resulting in a breakdown of democracy, it is not a sufficient condition. We identify, in the cases of Weimar Germany and post-Soviet Russia, a post-imperial syndrome that includes nationalist irredentism and an ambition to return to the status quo ante of a “great power” as a main reason why democratization faces specific and enormous challenges for