The First Czechoslovak Republic as a Militant Democracy avant la lettre: Law, Institutions, and the Defense of the Republic

Abstract

This article argues that the First Czechoslovak Republic developed a coherent regime of “militant democracy” avant la lettre, embedding legal, administrative, and judicial safeguards to protect the democratic-republican order against extremist threats. Using the 1934–36 case of a provincial official disciplined for importing and promoting Nazi propaganda, as a focal microhistory, the study shows how two statutes operated together: the Law for the Protection of the Republic (No. 50/1923 Sb.) and the Law on the Prosecution of Anti-State Activity by Public Officials (No. 147/1933 Sb.), which established specialized Disciplinary Courts for the Protection of the Republic. Drawing on parliamentary debates, ministerial directives, court rulings, police records, and the press, the article demonstrates that the 1933 reforms translated defensive constitutionalism into routinized procedure. It situates these measures within shifting perceptions of danger—from Bolshevism to Nazism—the Židenice putsch, and rising Sudeten radicalization, and contrasts Prague’s legally bounded emergency toolkit with Nazi Gleichschaltung. Engaging Karl Loewenstein’s theory and recent scholarship on democratic self-defense, the article presents the First Czechoslovak Republic as an early model whose everyday enforcement targeted incitement, disloyalty in public service, and party militancy, revealing a constitutional democracy capable of defending itself without abandoning its character.