Nineteenth-century historian William Lecky recalled in ‘Democracy and Liberty’ that he had expressed fears for democratic states on the European Continent, as the kind of government they had established lent itself to exploitation by extreme groups and slick lobbyists. Within just a few years, he felt his fear that liberty might be extinguished by democracy was well-justified.

Lecky said that when the Italians and the Austrians won the right to form new democratic governments, many had felt optimistic for their future. But those hopes had faded as riots took hold and totalitarian politics gained in popularity; and with parliaments powerless to intervene, it seemed as if parliamentary government itself might be under threat.

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