This book explores what it meant to be ‘liberal’ in interwar Czech, Austrian, and Slovenian politics. Up until 1918, these countries shared the common political framework of Cisleithania (the Austrian part of the Habsburg Monarchy). Within this framework was the predominantly pejorative function of the label ‘liberal,’ and as a result after 1918, no major political party employed it to describe its own political orientation. Despite making considerable efforts to dissociate themselves from liberalism, many parties continued to be referred to as ‘liberal’ by the contemporary public. This association with liberalism, the book argues, was primarily due to the parties’ historical background rather than any ideological commitment to liberalism, and for that reason, the author refers to them as ‘national liberal heirs.’ Examining the (dis)continuities of liberal party traditions, the book presents three representative cases of national liberal heirs: the Czechoslovak National Democracy; the Greater German People's Party; and the Slovenian sections of the Yugoslav Democratic Party, the Independent Democratic Party, and the Yugoslav National Party. Forming a distinctive part of early twentieth-century party landscapes in Central Europe, the national liberal heirs had inherited organisational structures, parts of electorate, as well as rootedness in specific cultural and social milieus from their liberal predecessors. Following the political trajectories of the national liberal heirs, the author seeks to answer in which spheres, in which manners, and to what extent liberalism survived or even continued to develop in the interwar Czech lands, Austria, and Slovenia.

The collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy at the end of World War I ushered in a period of radical change for East-Central European political structures and national identities. Yet this transformed landscape inevitably still bore the traces of its imperial past. Breaking with traditional histories that take 1918 as a strict line of demarcation, this collection focuses on the complexities that attended the transition from the Habsburg Empire to its successor states. In so doing, it produces new and more nuanced insights into the persistence and effectiveness of imperial institutions, as well as the sources of instability in the newly formed nation-states.

Often the liberal movement has been viewed through the lens of its later German nationalism. This presents only one facet of a wide-ranging, all-encompassing project to regenerate the Habsburg Monarchy. By analysing its various nuances, this volume provides a new, more positive interpretation of Austro-German liberalism.

This book goes beyond the conventional nation-centered narratives and presents a novel vision especially sensitive to the cross-cultural entanglement of political ideas and discourses. Its principal aim is to make these cultures available for the global "market of ideas" and help rethink some of the basic assumptions about the history of modern political thought and modernity.

"Masterly ... A fascinating tour d'horizon of the Edwardian political scene. This must be a definitive account." – Professor Jane Ridley, author of George V: Never a Dull Moment "A tour de force, sympathetic in its treatment of the subject, eminently wise in its judgement and invariably fair in its verdicts. It purrs along like a Rolls-Royce engine." – Professor T. G. Otte, author of Statesman of Europe: A Life of Sir Edward Grey "This brilliant book from Britain's most important constitutional historian upends the orthodoxy about the decadent Edwardians. A masterpiece of intelligent history, both forceful and subtle, which transforms how we view not just those most complex Edwardians but also our own equally complex times." – Professor Richard Aldous, author of The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli "Brilliant. Instantly the leading history of this turbulent and critical period in Britain's transition towards a modern democracy." – Professor Robert Blackburn, King's College London "Vernon Bogdanor has the habit of unearthing gems that have been missed by others. He does it again in this magisterial work on post-Gladstonian Britain by challenging some of the long-established myths about this period that deserve to be cast aside." – Professor Malcolm Murfett, King's College London "Professor Bogdanor argues with conviction and sometimes passion but always with judiciousness and in the light of deep reflection. The result is a masterly work which speaks to the politics of our own time." – Alvin Jackson, Richard Lodge Professor of History, University of Edinburgh "An extraordinary exploration of a political world whose dynamics continue to shape the future of liberal constitutionalism." – Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University "Crisp, authoritative and lucid." – Nicholas Owen, associate professor of politics, University of Oxford The turbulent years of 1895 to 1914 changed Britain's political landscape for ever. They saw a transition from aristocratic rule to mass politics and heralded a new agenda which still dominates today. The issues of the period – economic modernisation, social welfare and equality, secondary and technical education, a new role for Britain in the world – were complex and difficult. Indeed, they proved so thorny that despite the efforts of the Edwardians they remain among the most pressing problems we face in the twenty-first century. The period has often been seen as one of decadence, of the strange death of liberal Britain. In contrast, Vernon Bogdanor believes that the robustness of Britain's parliamentary and political institutions and her liberal political culture, with the commitment to rational debate and argument, were powerful enough to carry her through one of the most trying periods of her history and so make possible the remarkable survival of liberal Britain. In this wide-ranging and sometimes controversial survey, one of our pre-eminent political historians dispels the popular myths that have grown up about this critical period in Britain's story and argues that it set the scene for much that is laudable about our nation today.

A political, cultural, and socioeconomic history of the Habsburg empire, discussing the rise of Habsburg power, its subsequent status and action as a great power, and its dissolution.