Uurimus baseerub ametlikul Eestis ilmunud materjalil, ajalehtedel, ajakirjadel, aga ka mälestustel ja ajaloolisel kirjandusel. See näitab, kuidas demokraatlik Eesti konstitutsioon asendati 1933. a. konstitutsiooniga, mis koondas kogu võimu riigipea kätte.

• Inledning
• Författningsfrågan - ett mångfasetterat problemkomplex
• Författningskarusellen i den ekonomiska krisens och den begynnande auktortära ideologins skugga
• Det demokratiska systemets krossande. Den tysta epokens början
• Den auktoritära nationalstaten tar form
• Uppgörelsen med vapsismen
• «Styrd demokrati» legaliseras
• Mellan Scylla och Charybdis
• Päts avgång och deportation
• Noter
• Zusammenfassung
• Förkortningar
• Källor och litteratur
• Personenregister

This study is based on official Estonian printed material, newspapers and journals as well as personal memoirs and historical literature. It attempts to show how the democratically inspired Estonian constitution of 1920 was superseded in 1933 by a constitution which concentrated all power in the head of state. This constitution had been proposed by the Union of Freedom Fighters, an organisation shot through with then prevailing Fascist ideology. The situation made it possible for acting head of state Päts to seize power by a coup d'état. By making use of the extensive powers granted to the head of state, Päts ruled the country by decree (without holding Parliamentary elections or electing a Head of State) until the end of 1937, when an even more reactionary constitution - of his own making - was adopted. There is nothing to suggest that Päts had in mind to return the country to a parliamentary system, for which he had little or no sympathy, as indeed he had for the creation of any freedom of public opinion. The study further shows that in 1940, contrary to what has been generally contended, Päts handed over all governmental powers to a head of state appointed by a Soviet emissary. He did this without violating the constitution and without coercion by the representatives of the occupying power.