The concept of democracy in the Weimar Constitution

Authors

  • Gertrude Lübbe-Wolff Universidad de Bielefeld

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17811/hc.v0i20.606

Keywords:

Electoral system, parliamentarism, parties, direct democracy, presidentialism, rule of law

Abstract

The constitution of the Weimar Republic was progressive and promisinng in many respects. However, it established parliamentarism only half way, with a parliamentary right to overtrow government, but with the right to select and appoint the chancellor in the hands of the president, who could also dissolve parliament at wish, and had extensive emergency powers. The demerits of that design, for which Hugo Preuß, the drafter of the Weimar constitution, had relied on a theory of parliamentarism developed by the alsatian jurist Robert Redslob, contributed to the eventual failure of the constitution, whereas the oft-blamed instruments of direct democracy did not. The main reasons why the first Geman democracy failed are fully external to the constitution.

Fecha de envío / Submission date: 22/04/2019

Fecha de aceptación / Acceptance date: 5/05/2019

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Published

2019-05-14

Issue

No. 20 (2019): Historia Constitucional N. 20 (2019)

Section

The Weimar Constitution in its centenary (1919-2019)

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