What do we know about democratization? Lessons from history

What lessons can be drawn from Europe‘s historical process of democratization? In an age when democratic reversals, backsliding, and competitive authoritarianism are rampant among new democracies, taking a „long-run“ view of democracy‘s own long-run history in today‘s stable democracies provides insight into the determinants of settled and unsettled paths of democracy more generally. Presenting the findings of a research project in progress, Daniel Ziblatt will discuss how the difficulties of Germany‘s own democratization (1871 onwards) might shed new light on one of the most pressing issues facing new democracies today: the intersection and potentially disruptive effects of economic inequality on the institutionalization of political equality.

Daniel Ziblatt is the Paul Sack Associate Professor of Political Economy in the department of government at Harvard University. He is currently writing a book entitled Conservative Political Parties and the Birth of Modern Democracy in Europe, 1848-1950, that offers a new interpretation of the historical democratization of Europe. Ziblatt is on the editorial board of the journal German Politics and Society, and has held visiting positions in Berlin, Konstanz, and Cologne.

Moderated by Wolfgang Merkel, Director of the WZB Research Unit „Democracy: Structures, Performance, Challenges“.