To What Extent Was Germany a Parliamentary Democracy? Essay

The Weimar Republic would have continued to be a functional government far longer than achieved if not for the defeat of WWI, the economic burdens imposed by the Versailles Treaty, and the flawed Article 48 which all contributed to the down fall of Germany’s first attempt at a legitimate Democracy. This paper will argue that the societal, economical, and constitutional aspects all played a role in the hopeless Democracy Germany attempted which ultimately lead Germany into a totalitarian state that would further shake the world with the rise of the NSDAP and Adolf Hitler.

The German government (Bundesregierung) is a democracy for how the people participate. The people are able to vote for leaders and can choose from different political parties like the Christian Social Union or the Social Democratic Party, and many others. They have an indirect democracy from their elections for representatives in each state who then vote for members of Parliament. The way their electoral system is set up when voting allows citizens to “express on the one hand a preference for a specific party alliance, and on the other determine the balance of power,” Deutschland.de. Democracy is the form of

The Weimar Republic came into being on November 1918 and was born in the throes of military defeat and social revolution. In January 1919, a National Assembly was elected to draft a constitution. The government, composed of members from the assembly, came to be called the Weimar coalition and included the SPD, the German Democratic Party and the Centre Party. Weimar was a rushed and often referred to as a ‘mistaken democracy'. Its been said "The dysfunctional nature of Weimar democracy ... aided

By 1890, Germany had been a nation state for almost 20 years. Liberal nationalism was dying from its own success, and a new brand of popular ideas on the German Volk and fatherland was emerging to represent the generation which had been born in the boundaries of a German state, and was now reaching adulthood. Necessarily, these ideas would adopt foundations of German cultural superiority and common identity which had been espoused at the start of the century, and this was encouraged by colonialism. This popular nationalism was encouraged by the more active climate of public debate and freer politics. They were also no doubt affected by the position of the army in German society and the interference of a government dominated by the

“Constitutional Law of the Greater German Reich” is a primary document dating back to 1939. The source was authored by Ernst Rudolf Huber, a legal scholar well-known for his role in shaping Nazi law. The purpose of this document was to convey to the citizens of Germany, that the power of the Fuhrer state has the capability to extend across all bounds as it acts only in accordance to the people. Therefore, separating it from a parliamentary democracy, which merely advertises the will of the people while only focusing on conflicting social interests. The source holds value as it indicates Huber’s role in the Nazi regime. Through demonstrating how he uses his prior knowledge of administrative law to draw positive attention towards the principles

This caused a huge issue in the Weimar republic as it meant that no party could get a majority vote leading to many disagreements and arguments between everyone, meaning nothing would get done. If the government had just one party and not coalition parties, then Germany’s recovery could speed up. Many people wanted a strong lead figure instead so difficult decisions were made quickly and progress would be made. Unfortunately, Stresemann’s government did not do this and took a long time to make decisions because the whole of the Weimar Republic had to vote. Germany was not ready to run a democratic government after the Treaty of Versailles stated it in the terms. Stresemann’s government did not help or speed up the recovery of

In the period 1900-1914, Germany’s political landscape witnessed extraordinary changes in which typical features associated with a parliamentary democracy- such as significant and influential pressure group activity and universal suffrage- were present. It can however be argued that this period also represented a time in which the German Reichstag did not truly represent the population due to old and corrupt voting system for Prussia which saw votes unfairly given and the role of all the chancellors- in particular Von Bulow- during this time, which saw unelected officials yielding greater influence than that of the Reichstag. Germany was a parliamentary

According to the Second Reich constitution, it is clear that during the years of the Second Reich there was no democracy. The German Electorates could only elect the Reichstag, which

The Weimar Constitution was a genuine attempt to create a perfect democratic country. In his book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960), American historian William L. Shirer described the Weimar Constitution as "on paper, the most liberal and democratic document of its kind the twentieth century had ever seen ... full of ingenious and admirable devices which seemed to guarantee the working of an almost flawless democracy.” The constitution guaranteed equal rights to the German people, yet also contained the fundamental structural flaws that would play a major part in the Republic 's downfall (and thus the Nazi Party’s rise). Two clear examples of such weaknesses were the use of an excessively proportional electoral system and the

The Failure of Democracy in Germany in the Period 1928 to 1934 Those in power in Weimar Germany so consistently mishandled the political and economic situation leading up to the period 1928-1934, that a well-structured challenge from the Nazi Party brought about the fall of democracy. This Nazi Party was stronger ideologically, structurally within the party and politically, with Hitler as Fuhrer a major factor himself. In addition, factions within Germany for whom a right-wing political system was more beneficial, such as the army and big business, aided the eventual change in governance. Thus a series of events occurred which can be summarised by these three main factors: failure of the Weimar

However, this success seemed to be short-term and relied on Germany’s unguaranteed success to keep people from voting for extremist parties. Although Stresemann’s Germany looked promising, there was still political instability because no one party could gain a majority in the republic. Governments had to be formed from coalitions of parties working together. This meant that decision-making was difficult and could easily be overturned by a smaller, less significant party. Up to 1930, the Social Democrats always won the most votes, but never enough to govern on their own. There were twenty-five

German history is seen as a ‘painful issue for thousands of Germans and other Europeans’ . However it has interested many historians over the years into inquiring how and why Hitler came to power and how much of this was to do with the failure of parliamentary democracy in Germany. To fully ascertain to what extent these events have in common and what reasons led to the fall of democracy and rise of the Nazis, each have to be looked at individually. Also it seems beneficial, to be able to evaluate these in the relevant context, to look at the situation in Germany was in prior to 1920.

It faced the problems similar to those of Italy. There were 9 cabinets in 1920-28. Moreover, Germany was unified by Bismarck. It inherited from Prussia the tradition of authoritarianism and contempt for democracy. German people were dissatisfied with the inefficient administration of the Weimar government.

There were various factors that contributed to the failure of the Weimar Republic of Germany and the ascent of Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers Party into power on January 30, 1933. Various conflicting problems were concurrent with the eventuation of the Republic that, from the outset, its first governing body the socialist party (SPD) was forced to contend with.

During the Weimar Republic, the Reichstag experienced a period of true parliament, which began with Philipp Scheidemann in 1918, announcing from a window on the west side of the Reichstag, that “Germany was a German Republic. “This statement sparked a revolution, and sent Berlin into a state of turmoil, which lasted a few months, then in 1919 a new constitution was drawn up to mark an era of a new parliamentary democracy.The Nazi Germany period before 1939, the Reichstag had the entry of the NSDAP Brownshirts, later known as the Nazi party; this would mark the end of the Weimar Republic. The Nazi party gradually gained more and more