The Spread of Authoritarian Regimes in Interwar Europe

Abstract

A number of studies have found that a variety of political phenomena, including democracy, can spread through a diffusion process. It is also possible that non-democratic phenomena can follow a similar pattern. The spread of authoritarian regimes in Europe between World I and World War II provided a classic case to determine whether there were such patterns. In fact, the creation of authoritarian political systems followed a diffusion pattern in some periods under some circumstances. There were also indications that those countries that were at lower levels of economic development were a factor that led to the establishment of authoritarian political systems