Recasting Bourgeois Europe

Charles Maier, one of the most prominent contemporary scholars of European history, published Recasting Bourgeois Europe as his first book in 1975. Based on extensive archival research, the book examines how European societies progressed from a moment of social vulnerability to one of political and economic stabilization.Arguing that a common trajectory calls for a multi country analysis, Maier provides a comparative history of three European nations and argues that they did not simply return to a prewar status quo, but achieved a new balance of state authority and interest group representation. While most previous accounts presented the decade as a prelude to the Depression and dictatorships, Maier suggests that the stabilization of the 1920s, vulnerable as it was, foreshadowed the more enduring political stability achieved after World War II.The immense and ambitious scope of this book, its ability to follow diverse histories in detail, and its effort to explain stabilization-and not just revolution or breakdown-have made it a classic of European history.

Preface to the 2016 Reprinting ix

Preface to the 1988 Reprinting xix

Preface xxvii

Abbreviations xxxi

Introduction: From Bourgeois to Corporatist Europe 3

PART 1: THE CONTAINMENT OF THE LEFT

Chapter 1: The Dimensions of Social Conflict at the End of World War I 19

The Language of Class Anxiety (1900-1925) 22

Elites--Resilient and Vulnerable 39

Business Accommodation in Germany and France 53

Chapter 2: Politics among the Victors: Issues and Elections in November 1919 88

Bourgeois Cohesion in France 91

Bourgeois Disarray in Italy 109

Chapter 3: The Limits of Economic Restructuring 135

The Evolution of Leftist Objectives 136

Strategies of Bourgeois Defense 153

The Coal Crisis 194

PART II: THE FAILURE OF THE PARLIAMENTARY CENTER

Chapter 4: The Politics of Reparation 233

The Wager on "Fulfillment" 233

Reparation, Taxes, and the Demands of German Heavy Industry 249

The Bankruptcy of Moderation (1922) 272

Chapter 5: The Attrition of the Liberal Regime in Italy 305

The Political Ecology of Fascism 305

From Giolitti to Mussolini: The Liberals' Search for Order 322

PART III: PATHS TOWARD CORPORATIST STABILITY

Chapter 6: Between Nationalism and Corporatism: The Ruhr Conflict 355

Inflation, Social Democracy, and the Challenge to Sovereignty in Germany 356

Corporatist Forces voices Poincaré and Stresemann 387

Chapter 7: Majorities without Mandates: Issues and Elections in the Spring of 1924 421

The Limits of Mussolini's Majority 422

The Limits of Social Democratic Eclipse 440

The Limits of the Cartel des Gauches 458

Chapter 8: Achieving Stability 481

Inflation, Revaluation, and the Decomposition of Parliamentary Politics 483

Iron, Steel, and the International Organization of Capitalism 516

Corporative State in Corporatist Europe 545

Conclusion: The Structure and Limits of Stability 579

Bibliography 595

Index 609