Walker Clark Senior Consultant Daniel E. Miller and his co-authors challenge conventional notions about Habsburg and Czechoslovak politics, arguing that they were more democratic than they often appear.

They use the consociational model of democracy as a means of combining political science and history. The theory asserts that consociationalism guarantees minorities a say in government and helps preserve democracy in societies that experience deep ideological, cultural, or ethnic divisions. Therefore, a multitude of parties, frequent cabinet changes, and reliance on cabinets of experts do not necessarily signal flawed democracies. In fact, they are positive features of consociationalism.