Study on Political Regime Changes of Semi-Polyarchies in the Interwar Years

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The aim of this research project is first to define and demarcate conceptually another type of political regime, "semi-polyarchy" (hereafter SP), and then to scrutinize its distinctive regime mechanism as well as to tease out the dynamics of regime change from semi-polyarchy to polyarchy or that from semi-polyarchy to non-polyarchy through some case studies.In this research we assert that it is theoretically proper and logical to understand polyarchy as a political regime which attains a high degree of "inclusiveness" and "liberalization" as well as sufficient "parliamentarization" of political decision-makers, one of the most important features of which is the establishment of parliamentary cabinet system. From this understanding of polyarchy, we deduce that not only regimes with incomplete "inclusiveness" or "liberalization" (SP I), which Robert A. Dahl called "near-polyarchy," but also relatively inclusive and liberalized though not fully parliamentarized ones (SP II) should be cate … More gorized as semi-polyarchy. Regarding the SP I, typical cases are countries which adopted "oligarchic parliamentarism" or Britain in the 19th century, but this research dares to undertake a case study of Portugal before Salazar, since it has never been analyzed from this perspective. As to the SP II, being a regime that can't enjoy stable predominance of parliamentary cabinet over other state institutions (e.g. King/Queen, military, privy council, upper house and so on), it is expected to appear in the breakdown process of polyarchy. But it also emerges as "unconsolidated polyarchy" soon after the installation of polyarchy. This research picks up Poland, Yugoslavia, Estonia, Czechoslovakia as examples of SP II in the interwar Europe which saw many newly founded polyarchies.More comprehensive and fully comparative study of semi-polyarchy has yet to come, but by identifying another type of non-polyarchal regimes which has been totally neglected, this research would surely contribute to the theoretical development of political regime study. Less