Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction. The regime question -- The regime question and the first wave -- An historical institutionalist approach to legislative coalitions -- Early parliamentarization in the United Kingdom : the dominance of repertoires of economic management -- Early mass suffrage in Germany : the dominance of repertoires of regime contention -- Simultaneous introduction in France : the development of multiple repertoires -- Roots of the regime question in the United States : the emergence of repertoires of regime contention -- Change and continuity of regime contention in the United States : the development of multiple repertoires -- Conclusion. The regime question, then and now.

"This book compares the development of first wave democracies in Europe and the US with a new theory focusing on political struggles between competing forces"-- Provided by publisher.

"Ongoing struggles over core principles of democratic governanceThe 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.Ahmed 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"-- Provided by publisher.