{"product_id":"the-regime-question-amel-ahmed-9780691269436","title":"The Regime Question: Foundations of Democratic Governance in Europe and the United States","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOngoing struggles over core principles of democratic governance\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe regime question--often boiled down to \"democracy or autocracy?\"--has been central to democratic politics from the start. This has entailed not only fights over the extent of the franchise but also, crucially, ongoing struggles over core principles of democracy, the \"rules of the game.\" In this timely study, Amel Ahmed examines the origins and development of the regime question in Western democracies and considers the implications for regime contention today. She argues that battles over the regime question were so foundational and so enduring that they constitute a dimension of politics that polarized political opponents across the regime divide. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAhmed investigates four historical cases in the study of democratic development: the United Kingdom between the Reform Act of 1832 and World War II (1832-1939), Imperial and Weimar-era Germany (1876-1933), the French Third Republic (1870-1939), and the United States before World War II (1789-1939). Focusing on legislative politics as an essential site of democratic governance and key to understanding long-term democratic endurance, she shows that when the regime question became salient, it hindered the formation of viable legislative coalitions along the left-right policy spectrum. This failure opened the door to executive encroachment, destabilizing the regime. Ahmed shows that the resurgence of the regime question today is not, as is often assumed, a break with prior trajectories of political development but a new instantiation of battles fought in previous eras.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Amel Ahmed\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0691269432\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691269436\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/08\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.09lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.79d","brand":"Amel Ahmed","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46962508202239,"sku":"9780691269436","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_6f96b627-0675-419a-9592-99542f2cec40.jpg?v=1750651659","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-regime-question-amel-ahmed-9780691269436","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}