The Fascist State Democracies Ruled by Decree



Royal Dictatorships



Parliamentary democracy was, for the countries of southeastern Europe as much as for more economically more advanced countries such as Italy and Germany, difficult. The rule of law and order was threatened by political groups willing to resort to violence; the political parties in parliament were often at odds with each other over certain issues, and late in the 1920es it was increasingly difficult to establish coalition governments. The GREAT DEPRESSION also affected the Balkan states, although in a different way than the industrialized nations of central Europe.
In countries such as YUGOSLAVIA (1929), BULGARIA (1934), ROMANIA (1938) the respected kings suspended the constitution and ruled dictatorially. There was no political philosophy behind royal autocratic rule; it could be interpreted as falling back to a pattern before parliamentary rule was introduced. Parliament, in the moment of the royal takeover, was incapable of organizing a government; the respective country needed a government.
The respective royal governments succeeded in reestablishing and maintaining law and order. There was little protest against the breech of the constitution. The kings ruled via appointed prime ministers.



Yugoslavia 1929-1941 Bulgaria 1934-1939 Rumania 1924-1939




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This page is part of World History at KMLA
Last revised on February 20th 2002

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