Course:VANT149/2026/Capstone/Arts/Presentation65

Abstract

The collapse of the Weimar Republic has long raised questions about how democratic

legitimacy changes during periods of political crisis. Existing scholarship by authors such as

Berman, Mommsen, Puaca, and Conradt often explains the failure of Weimar democracy

through political culture, institutional weakness, or political socialization. However, less

attention has been given to how democratic ideas shifted within everyday public discourse

during moments of instability. This proposed project asks how political violence influenced

representations of democracy in Weimar newspaper discourse between 1929 and 1933. Using

discourse analysis, the project will examine patterns of language, framing, and tone across

newspapers with different political orientations. The presentation will explain why

newspapers are useful sources for understanding democratic culture and how this method

may reveal shifts in democratic meanings during periods of extremism and crisis. It is

expected that the project will suggest democratic culture was increasingly contested during

the final years of the Weimar Republic, while also acknowledging the limitations of

newspapers as representations of broader public opinion.

Biography

ShiXiong Xiong is a first-year student in the UBC Vantage College program with academic

interests in political history, democratic culture, and political communication. His current

research proposal explores how political violence influenced representations of democracy in

newspaper discourse during the final years of the Weimar Republic. More broadly, he is

interested in the relationship between crisis, public discourse, and democratic legitimacy in

modern societies. Outside of academic work, he enjoys studying urban history, comparative

politics, and literature related to cities and social change.