On Wednesday 13 October 2021, Birmingham Research Institute for History and Cultures (BRIHC) and the Institute for German and European Studies (IGES) hosted a discussion with Kurt Weyland (University of Texas at Austin, author of Assault on Democracy: Communism, Fascism, and Authoritarianism During the Interwar Years) and Tobias Straumann (University of Zurich, author of 1931: Debt, Crisis, and the Rise of Hitler) on the reasons for the failure of democracy in interwar Europe.
Failure of Democracy: Political Threats and Economic Crisis in Interwar Europe
It was particularly interesting to hear how political scientists and economic historians have sought to explore these histories and what their studies reveal about the possibilities of interdisciplinary engagement.