Germany had an elected parliament, but divided parties and increasing use of presidential emergency orders weakened its control over government.
The Weimar Republic was Germany's system of government after the First World War. Kaiser Wilhelm II, the emperor, lost power in 1918. Under the 1919 constitution, voters elected the Reichstag, Germany's parliament. The constitution was the set of rules explaining how the state should be governed and what rights people had. Voting rights included women as well as men.
The voting system used proportional representation: a party's share of seats broadly reflected its share of votes. With several parties in parliament, a government often needed a coalition, or an agreement between parties to govern together. If its partners could not agree, the government could lose the support it needed to act. Several parties sharing power was not itself a failure; the problem grew when they refused to cooperate or rejected democracy.
Article 48 let the president take emergency measures. An emergency decree was an order that could take effect without the usual parliamentary lawmaking process. From 1930, governments increasingly relied on these decrees because they lacked a stable majority in the Reichstag. This weakened parliament's ability to hold the government to account.
The republic also faced hostility over defeat and Versailles. Some nationalist opponents blamed democratic politicians for Germany's humiliation. Communists wanted to replace capitalism with a society based on collective ownership; conservative opponents feared such a revolution. Democracy allows political competition and elected representatives to limit government. Authoritarian rule concentrates power and restricts opposition. These were different answers to Germany's problems, and the constitution alone did not decide which would prevail.
Worked example: Why the same rules could produce different results
Germany used proportional representation during both the recovery of the mid-1920s and the crisis after 1929.
- During recovery, parties could still bargain and form governments under this system.
- After 1929, unemployment and arguments over how to respond made cooperation harder. Governments increasingly relied on the president.
- The voting system made agreement necessary. The crisis and political choices help explain why that agreement broke down; the voting rule alone does not.
Watch out for this
Article 48 elected Hitler and immediately made him dictator.
Article 48 concerned emergency powers, not elections. President Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor in January 1933. Hitler then used further laws and violence to remove limits on his power.
Check your understanding
Why could disagreement between coalition parties weaken government during a crisis?
- The parties might fail to agree on what to do, leaving the government without enough support in parliament.
- Every multi-party system must become a dictatorship.
- The constitution required voters to choose the Nazi Party.