German Liberalism and the Origins of Presidential Government in the Weimar Republic

Bibliographic Data

ID3538466
AuthorsWilliam L Patch (0000-0001-6306-4974, Washington and Lee University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume92
Issue4
Pages774-816
Publication date2020-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Modern History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-2801 • E-ISSN: 1537-5358
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/711236
OpenAlexW3100622273
LanguageEN
References cited7

Most historians associate Germany’s transition in 1930 to government by presidential emergency decrees based on Article 48 of the Weimar constitution with authoritarian conservatism, and there certainly were powerful conservative forces that advocated government by decree to cripple the power of the democratically elected Reichstag. Most leaders of Germany’s two liberal parties also concluded by 1929, however, that parliamentary government suffered from paralysis, because each party had become dedicated to serving particular interest groups rather than the common good. They had anchored strong powers for the president in the constitution in 1919, urged Friedrich Ebert to make full use of those powers in 1923, and sought good relations with President Hindenburg after his election in 1925 and enhancement of his popularity. They hoped in 1929/30 that Hindenburg could make full use of his constitutional prerogatives and his great popularity as a war hero to influence the quarrelsome Reichstag delegations to seek reasonable compromises, and if necessary to appeal to the electorate in alliance with the chancellor he trusted to support moderate policies. These liberals influenced Hindenburg in 1929/30 both directly and indirectly through two of his closest advisers, Defense Minister Wilhelm Groener and State Secretary Otto Meissner. The utter collapse of the liberal parties at the polls from 1930 to 1932 deprived these liberals of influence, however, and left the authoritarian conservative concept of presidential government largely unchallenged within Hindenburg’s inner circle. It would be a great mistake nevertheless to believe that everyone who supported the idea of a “Hindenburg cabinet” in 1929/30 advocated something resembling the harshly antidemocratic practice of the Papen cabinet in 1932

Basic law · Cabinet (room) · Constitution · Liberalism · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · Separation of powers · Weimar Republic · European Political History Analysis · Law · Political Theology and Sovereignty · Public Administration · Public Administration and Political Analysis

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