My first book,
The
Social Democratic Moment,
explains why the Swedish and German social democratic parties made such
different choices during the interwar era. My focus is on their differing
ideas about politics and economics (their "programmatic beliefs"). I argue
that largely as a result of these ideas the Swedish Social Democrats placed
themselves at the forefront of the drive for democratization; a decade later
they responded to the Depression with a bold new economic program and used
it to build a long period of political hegemony. The German Social Democrats,
on the other hand, had democracy thrust upon them and then dithered when
faced with economic crisis; their haplessness cleared the way for a bolder
and more skillful political leader-- Adolf Hitler.
My second book,
The Primacy of Politics. Social Democracy and the Making of Europe's
Twentieth Century,
examines the history of social democracy from its origins in the late
nineteenth century to today and shows
how it beat out competitors such as
classical liberalism, orthodox Marxism, and its cousins, fascism and
National Socialism, by solving the central challenge of modern politics:
reconciling the competing needs of capitalism and democracy.
Click to purchase book!
Academic Articles & Book
Chapters
"Co-opting
Revolutionaries: The Lessons from European Communism,"
Journal
of Democracy, 18, 5, January 2008.
"The Vain Hope for
Correct Timing,"
Journal of
Democracy, 19, 3, July 2007.
(Read the entire debate on "Sequencing"
from the
Journal of Democracy.)
"How Democracies Emerge:
Lessons from Europe,"
Journal
of Democracy, 19, 1, January 2007.
"Violence, Conflict and Civil Society,"
Mittelweg 36, Spring 2006.
"Islamism,
Revolution and Civil Society," Perspectives on Politics, 1, 2, June
2003.
"The
Roots and Rationale of Social Democracy,"
Social Philosophy & Policy, 20,
1, 2003.
"Modernization
in Historical Perspective: The Case of Imperial Germany,"
World Politics,
53, 3, April 2001.
"Ideas, Norms and Culture in Political Analysis,"
Comparative Politics, 33, 2,
January 2001.
"Path
Dependency and Political Action: Re-examining Responses to the Depression,"
Comparative Politics, 30, 4, July 1998.
"The Life of the Party,"
Comparative Politics, 30, 1, October 1997.
"Civil Society and the Collapse of
the Weimar Republic," World Politics, 49, 3, April 1997.
"Civil
Society and Political Institutionalization,"
American Behavioral
Scientist, 40, 5, March/April 1997.
Book Reviews and Short Essays
"Review of Mary Hilson,
Political Change and the Rise of Labour in Comparative
Perspective,"
Journal of Social History, Spring 2008.
"Review
of Alexander George and Andrew Bennett,
Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences,"
Perspectives on Politics, 5, 1, 2007.
"Boom and Bust" A review of Barry Eichengreen's The European Economy Since
1945, New York Times, March 25 2007.
Review of Gavriel
D. Rosenfeld, The World Hitler Never Made,
German Politics and Society, Spring 2006.
Review
of
The Nation-State in Question,
T. V. Paul, G. John Ikenberry, and John A. Hall, eds., Foreign
Affairs, March/April 2004.
Review
of Margaret Lavinia Anderson, Practicing Democracy,
German Politics and Society, Summer 2001.
Euthanasia,
Eugenics and Fascism: How Close are the Connections,
German Politics and
Society, 17, 3, Fall, 1999.
Non-Academic Writings
"The Once
and Future Ideology,"
Renewal, 15, 2/3,
2007.
"Hizbollah is rearing an uncivil
society," Financial Times, September 1 2006.
"Capitalism and Poverty,"
World
Policy Journal, Spring 2006.
"Europe's Choice,"
Dissent,
Winter 2006.
"The Three Faces of Fascism,"
World Policy Journal, Fall 2004.
"'We Didn't Start the Fire': Capitalism
and its Critics, Then and Now," Foreign Affairs, 82, 4, July/August
2003.
"Rediscovering
Social Democracy," Dissent, Fall 2000.
"Bank on Democracy: Why Central
Banks Need Public Oversight," (with Kathleen McNamara)
Foreign Affairs,
78, 2, April/May 1999.
"The Left and
Democracy. The Triumph of Realo Politik,"
Dissent, Winter 2003.