Voting For Autocracy: Feudalism and the End of the Weimar Republic

• In Event: Democratic Backsliding Across Region and Across Time

Brief Overview

We show that the historic incidence of serfdom predicts anti-democratic voting in the Weimar Republic. The finding is the result of a “carrot and sticks”-bargain, whereby feudalism offers peasants a chance to trade liberty for economic safety.

Author

• Anselm Hager, Humboldt-University