The Ideal of Parliament in Europe since 1800

Description

This edited collection explores the perceptions and memories of parliamentarianism across Europe, examining the complex ideal of parliament since 1800. Parliament has become the key institution in modern democracy, and the chapters present the evolution of the ideal of parliamentary representation and government, and discuss the reception and value of parliament as an institution. It is considered both as a guiding concept, a Leitidee, as well as an ideal, an Idealtypus. The volume is split into three sections. The establishment of parliament in the nineteenth century and the transfer of parliamentary ideals, models and practices are described in the first section, based on the British and French models. The second part explores how the high expectations of parliamentary democracy in newly-established states after the First World War gradually started to subside into dissatisfaction. Finally, the last section attests to its resilience after the Second World War, demonstrating the strength of the ideal of parliament and its power to incorporate criticism. Examining the history of parliament through concepts and ideals, this book traces a transnational, European exchange of models, routines and discourse. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii The Ideal of Parliament in Europe Since 1800: Introduction (Remieg Aerts, Joop Th. J. van den Berg)....Pages 1-22 Front Matter ....Pages 23-23 Between National Character and an International Model: Parliaments in the Nineteenth Century (Henk te Velde)....Pages 25-40 Parliamentary Government in Southern Europe? The Model of the Cádiz Cortes and the Ideal of the Moderate Monarchy (Jens Späth)....Pages 41-59 The Men of 1830: Remembering the National Congress in the Belgian House of Representatives, 1844–1930 (Marnix Beyen)....Pages 61-76 New Models and Old Traditions: Debates on Parliamentarism in Hungary After the Austro-Hungarian Settlement of 1867 (András Cieger)....Pages 77-94 Experiencing Parliamentarism: The German National Assembly of 1848 (Andreas Schulz)....Pages 95-113 Front Matter ....Pages 115-115 Elusive Enthusiasm: Parliamentary Democracy in the Newly Founded European Nation-States After the First World War—The Case of Poland (Stephanie Zloch)....Pages 117-137 Closing the Expectation Gap? Crisis of Hungarian Parliamentarism in the Inter-War Period (Kálmán Pócza)....Pages 139-158 ‘A Bad Parliamentarism’: Normative Expectations and Criticism of Parliamentarism in the Weimar Reichstag (Thomas Raithel)....Pages 159-175 Front Matter ....Pages 177-177 Trial and Error: Post-War Democracies and the Restoration of Parliamentarism—Italy, Austria, Germany (Marie-Luise Recker)....Pages 179-197 Too Ideal to Be a Parliament: The Representative Assemblies in Socialist Czechoslovakia, 1948–1989 (Adéla Gjuričová)....Pages 199-217 The Transfer of Parliamentary Ideals to Civil Society in the Netherlands in the 1970s (Wim de Jong)....Pages 219-238 Change and Continuity: Implementing Parliamentary Democracy in Eastern Europe After 1989 with a Focus on Slovenia (Jure Gašparič)....Pages 239-254 Postscript (Henk te Velde)....Pages 255-258 Back Matter ....Pages 259-279