Where you and I and, I think, many others start from an assumption that somehow there is a thing called democracy and we sort of know what it is. But the diversity within democracy is far larger than that. You know, there's clear big institutional temperamental differences between visions of representatives ruling, people ruling, and so on. All these sorts of things are different models of democracy and therefore the word democracy in some respects becomes rather meaningless.

Martin Conway

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Western Europe’s Democratic Age: 1945—1968 here.

Martin Conway is the author of the new book Western Europe’s Democratic Age: 1945—1968 and a Professor of Contemporary European History at the University of Oxford.

Key Highlights Include

Why Democracy Became Part of Western Europe's Identity
How Democracy was a Process of Continual Negotiation
The Distinct Characteristics of Democracy in Western Europe
An Account of the Transition from the Fourth to the Fifth Republic in France
Lessons for Democracy Today from Western Europe's Past

Key Links

Western Europe's Democratic Age: 1945-1968 by Martin Conway

Learn more about Martin Conway at Balliol College at the University of Oxford

Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe by Sheri Berman

Democracy Paradox Podcast

Kurt Weyland Distinguishes Between Fascism and Authoritarianism

Michael Hughes on the History of Democracy in Germany

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