Thomas Lorman - Böcker

This is the first book in English to comprehensively examine the crucial first five years of Istvan Bethlen's premiership when, following the catastrophe of 1918-1920, he began the reconstruction of the country. Thomas Lorman argues that from 1920 to 1925, Bethlen engaged in a protracted and closely fought struggle to restore political, social, and economic stability. Bethlen achieved his objectives by re-constructing the governing party, which had been employed so effectively by Kalman and Istvan Tisza prior to World War One. Like the Tiszas' model, Bethlen's governing party was designed not to carry through a particular ideological agenda but rather to dominate Hungarian politics, which allowed Bethlen to consolidate the regime and restore stability. This book recognizes Bethlen's pragmatism. Lorman conducts extensive original research in Hungarian state and local archives and uses a methodological approach that examines, in detail, each stage of the political process by which Bethlen carried through the consolidation of the regime's power and the restoration of political stability.

Winner of the Alec Nove Prize in Russian, Soviet, and Post-Soviet StudiesWinner of the BASEES George Blazyca PrizeIn 1945, just six years after coming to power, the Slovak People's Party (SLS) was disbanded as a 'criminal organisation' and its leader - Jozef Tiso - hanged for treason. What made it possible for the SLS, initially founded in 1905 by priests to represent the Catholic Slovak minority residing in the north of the Kingdom of Hungary, to form an openly pro-Nazi government in 1939? And what put Slovakia on the path to a 'fascism' that would see more than 45,000 Jews deported to their deaths in 1942? To answer these questions, Thomas Lorman draws on more than a decade's research in archives across the region in Hungarian, Slovak and Latin, and studies the party's formative years in depth for the first time in English. Lorman examines the various strands which fused to form the party and its popularity, including a complex and nebulous nationalism, Catholicism and a resounding mistrust of liberalism and 'modernity'. The Making of the Slovak People’s Party is a vital and timely study of the genesis and success of far-right movements that will be essential reading for all scholars working on 20th-century Eastern European history, nationalism and the interplay of religion and politics.

The new Hungarian Basic Law, which was ratified on 1 January 2012, provoked domestic and international controversy. Of particular concern was the constitutional text’s explicit claim that it was situated within a reinvigorated Hungarian legal tradition that had allegedly developed over centuries before its violent interruption during World War II by German invaders, and later, by Soviet occupation. To explore the context and validity of this claim, and the legal traditions which have informed the stormy centuries of Hungary’s constitutional development, this book brings together a group of leading historians, political scientists and legal scholars to produce a comprehensive history of Hungarian constitutional thought. Ranging in scope from an overview of Hungarian medieval jurisprudence to an assessment of the various criticisms levelled at the new Hungarian Basic Law of 2012, contributors assess the constitutions, their impacts and their legacies, as well as the social and cultural contexts within which they were drafted. The historical analysis is accompanied by a selection of original source materials, many translated here for the first time. This is the only book in English on the subject and is essential reading for all those interested in Hungary’s history, political culture and constitution.