Mapping Elite Conflict in Weimar Germany: The Structure of Parliamentary Interactions

• In Event: 50460 - Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 2: Unpacking Bureaucratic "Domination"

Abstract

This paper examines the changing structure of elite conflict in Weimar Germany by analyzing interactions among political parties in the German Reichstag between 1920 and 1932. We introduce a new database derived from digitized parliamentary proceedings, capturing all speeches, interjections, and reactions to interjections recorded by parliamentary stenographers. Each interaction is assigned a politeness score based on the type of interaction (e.g., applause, agreement, laughter, shouting) and modifying descriptors (e.g., “tumultuous” or “lively”). Using these scores, we first employ network analysis to trace changes in the structure of deference. We then construct a party-party structural equivalence matrix based on shared interaction patterns and arrange parties in a two-dimensional space using multidimensional scaling. Our findings reveal that the resulting party structure closely aligns with one derived from roll-call vote similarity, whereas speech content alone fails to reproduce this pattern. By examining relationships formed through repeated interactions on the floor, this study provides novel insights into elite competition and polarization in the Weimar Republic, contributing to broader debates on institutional instability in democratic systems under stress.

Authors

• Benjamin Rohr, University of Mannheim

• John Levi Martin, University of Chicago