ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1, I hypothesized that a crisis may trigger the transformation of divided elites via a settlement, if no grossly uneven distribution of power exists between major elite groups before the crisis. My hypothesis can be restated as follows: an economic crisis may result in an elite settlement where there are a small number of political elite groups that engage in severe and inconclusive elite conflicts. There are, in fact, three independent variables in this hypothesis: the number of political elite groups, the severity of precrisis conflict, and the precrisis balance of elite power.
