CONDITIONS OF AUTHORITARIANISM, FASCISM, AND DEMOCRACY IN INTERWAR EUROPE - SYSTEMATIC MATCHING AND CONTRASTING OF CASES FOR SMALL N ANALYSIS

Comparative political analysis at the macrolevel of political systems can reduce the inevitably high complexity of such comparisons by the s ystematic matching or contrasting of cases, depending on the particula r problem. Such ''most similar systems'' or ''most different systems'' designs, in Przeworski and Teune's terminology, thus constitute one o f the major ways out of the usual ''small N-many variables'' dilemma. This article proposes a detailed and comprehensive method to establish such similarities and dissimilarities in a systematic and, at all sta ges, transparent way. The examples chosen refer to an analysis of the conditions of survival or breakdown of democratic systems in the inter war period in Europe.