How did West Germany develop after 1949? Flashcards
What party was Adenauer from?
the CDU (Christian Democratic Union)
Who was elected as the first Federal Chancellor for the FRG?
Adenauer
ruled for the next 14 years
What were Adenauer’s priorities?
to gain the trust of occupying powers + lead the country into a strong alliance with the west
Why were there concerns about the stability of a new democratic system?
failings of the Weimar republic & the subsequent rise of Hitler
many in Germany were not committed democrats + associated the old republic with instability and chaos
Why might it be seen by some, that the new system had been imposed on them by an occupying force?
Germans drawing up the new constitution were closely supervised by the Allies to ensure their concerns about the failure of Weimar Republic + emerging threat of communism were taken notice of
What was the main concern of the Allies?
to ensure that the democratically elected elites would retain control & could not be replaced by a dictator eg Hitler
as a result, established a ‘representative’ democracy rather than a ‘participatory’ one - public selected who ruled for them
What were the key features of the Basic Law? (headers)
Electoral system
Political parties
Bundesrat
President
Chancellor
Bundestag
When was the Basic Law approved?
May 1949
What did the Basic Law place special emphasis on?
human and civil rights
freedom of expression, assembly, association and movement were guaranteed
What did the basic law being a constitution indicate?
that it was temporary until Germany was united
it committed West Germany to work for unity and all German citizens living in former German lands now under Polish or Soviet rule were now entitled to citizenship
What was the impact of German citizens living in former German lands now under Polish or Soviet rule, now being entitled to citizenship?
any who fled the DDR were able to settle + work in the West
some 3 million had fled by the time the wall was erected in 1961
What does proportional representation mean?
in an election, the % of the vote is equal to the number of seats in Parliament
What was a feature of the basic law that impacted the president?
President’s power was limited
term in office reduced from 7 to 5 years
Not elected but chosen by a special assembly of representatives-prevented possibility of an anti-democratic leader coming into power
only one re-election was possible
no opportunity to rule by emergency decree
What were the key features of the basic law in terms of the Bundesrat?
West Germany remained a federal state; individual states kept much power over regional issues, and at a national level they were represented in the Bundesrat
What was the Bundesrat?
the upper chamber
What was the Bundestag?
the lower chamber
What was the role of the Bundestag?
(feature of basic law)
approved the chancellor and participated in the election of the head of state + federal court judges
able to take control of the gov through the ‘constructive vote of no confidence’
What changes were made to the electoral system?
(features of basic law)
complicated process called ‘mixed number PR’ was introduced
1953, five percent hurdle introduced
all parties had to uphold democracy
What was ‘mixed number proportional representation’ ?
combined proportional representation with first past the post to elect people to bundestag
prevented small parties from gaining seats
How did ‘mixed number PR’ work?
(not necessary right now)
allowed each voter to have 2 votes, half the seats in the Bundestag would come from majority votes in the constituencies (first past the post) and the other half from representatives nominated by the parties’ lists (PR)
When was the five percent hurdle introduced?
1953
What did the five percent hurdle mean?
parties had to gain 5% of the vote before they were represented
geared the electoral system to favour the larger parties at the expense of smaller ones, in the hope of establishing more stable coalitions
Why was the five percent hurdle introduced?
to prevent the emergence of small, extremist parties
What did the basic law state that all parties had to uphold?
democracy
extremist parties that were not committed to parliamentary democracy were banned
prevented anti-democratic parties from gaining a majority
What were the key features of the basic law that impacted the chancellor?
chancellor was solely responsible to the Bundestag
could not be dismissed unless a new chancellor was voted in, prevented the president from dismissing a chancellor at will
had to be able to secure parliamentary support-if not possible new elections had to be called
Why is the Basic Law seen as successful?
basic law successfully laid basis for FRG to create stable democracy in the 1950s
political + socio-economic environment more favourable in 1950s compared to 1920s
learning from mistakes of Weimar-not making same ones
created effective democracy
Why can the basic law/FRG be criticised?
critics suggest that the FRG was not genuinely democratic eg 5% rule, banning of left and right extremist parties, forced on by allies?
reasons why the basic law helped stabilise the development of democracy in the FRG?
federal structure allowed democracy to mature in long term
extremist parties unlikely to gain seats due to 5% hurdle (SPD outlawed in 1952 & KPD in 1956)
economic growth in 1950s, overcame it’s diplomatic isolation, made allies, advanced more than Weimar republic
reasons why the basic law DID NOT help the development of democracy in the FRG?
although extremism was less likely, coalition govs still the norm (208/402 seats in 1949)
critics argue FRG not genuinely democratic eg 5% hurdle
successes not down to basic law–> social changes + the way the economy developed played a role in stability
What does vanishing opposition mean?
where one party is the dominating party (CDU), there is no opposition/other party to oppose it effectively
What were the 2 dominant parties in the FRG?
CDU and SPD
What was Adenauer’s policy slogan?
“no experiments”
