- 10 -

IV. The Party System

1. Process of concentration

(a) Here too, 1945 means a more basic change than 1918. Regrouping of political forces in few strong parties, partly of new character. Since then, this tendency prevails over all attempts at a return to the multi-party situation of Weimar. Failure of minor party creations along traditional lines

(b) Most important the foundation and development of the CDU as a new party of bi-confessional, class-transcending nature, though based mainly on four traditional groupings: Center party, Bavarian federalism, Christian trade unionism, Protestant middle-class conservatism; unifying role of common experience of Nazi period (and resistance). Changing patterns before (moderate socialist) and after 1948/49 (modified capitalist, combining social and conservative elements)

(c) Changing traditional party: SPD. The way of Godesberg

(d) The third party: FDP. Blend of liberalism and nationalism, but with great contrasts, regionally and personally. Dramatically changing role as coalition partner and opposition

(e) Declining role of all other parties: regional, interest (BHE), conservative (DP) and radical groups of transitional significance

(f) De-ideologizing and pragmatizing tendencies of party evolution, corresponding to attitude of the voters, lead to the three-party system of the sixties. Different party structures and centrifugal elements, however, question its stability

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## 2. Towards a new type of power structure and control?

(a) Effects of chancellor democracy point at the cabinet system of Britain: not government versus parliament but government and its parliamentary party versus opposition party. This implies, with the decline of parliament, the replacement of the classical division of power by a new confrontation; with federalism and the federal court as additional factors of control

(b) The problems of such a minority opposition, with no immediate prospects to replace the government, are reflected in the development of the SPD; here the significance of federalism, as a relieving and strengthening vehicle of power balance and functioning opposition, becomes obvious.

(c) Evaluation of the three-party system in the light of that structural change. Will the traditional coalition structure of German politics survive the increasing dominance of direct government-opposition confrontation, or is it finally to be a two-party constellation which corresponds to the pragmatically changed attitude of the voter?

## 3. Infra-structure, financing, institutionalizing of parties

(a) The postulates of the constitution and the aging problem of a party law

(b) Financing practices of the different parties and reform projects

(c) Perspectives and recent practice of state financing; its impact on the structure and the dynamics of the parties

(d) Organization: member parties or election parties, oligarchic or democratic structure, systems of selection of candidates

- 12 -

(e) Electoral techniques and voting behavior, trends and stratifying factors of the elections since 1945; regional, confessional, class, personal factors; their reverse influence on party attitudes and structure

V. The Impact of Social and Economic Forces

1. The increasing role of interest organizations

(a) Political weight of the unified trade unions, and the problems implied in their professed "neutrality"

(b) Increasingly dense interest group structure of German society (Industry and business, agriculture, white collar, professions), as reaction to dirigism and Gleichschaltung of Nazi period, and corresponding to the 1949 decision for "Seziale Markwirtschaft" (whatever this be)

(c) Confrontation of economic interest groups: free enterprise system, state intervention, subventions, etc.; the neo-liberal philosophy

(d) Confrontation of social issues like social health and welfare pension system

(e) Cultural and educational organizations; the role of the churches

(f) Foreign policy and political pressure: veterans and refugee organizations

2. Techniques of pressure politics and the problem of chanelling pluralism

Some examples of pressure politics (and their possible inclusion into the decision-making or planning process of a democratic society: via parties, or bureaucracy, or chancellor (Adenauer), or direct pressure (strike, boycott); striking instances of agrarian pressure politics (Gruene Front), most recently on German Common Market policy

### 3. Supranational complexities and frameworks of interest politics

The early impact of the Marshall and Schumann plan agencies proved decisive and shaped the German attitude (e.g. the role of German trade unions in this respect: of M. Kohnstamm in Daedalus); on the other hand development of the East-West trade, with its special importance for the problem of Berlin and the division of Germany; finally there is the impact of the Western alliance and particularly the European cooperation policies (with the federation concept behind) that influences strongly the national interest structure - and of course vice versa. These tendencies appear highly important with respect to the future European policy and its Atlantic frame, they influence also the policies towards the developing countries(internally: problem of guest workers and guest students)

## VI. The Civic Culture: Democratic Institutions and Political Attitudes

### 1. Trends of public opinion

Towards the Nazi past; appreciation of democracy general, and of the West German political structure; counter-trends, neo-Nazi and radical currents; flux and stability of opinions; how deeply rooted is the change: economic progress and political behavior.

Degree and nature of political interest and behavior; historical and international comparison

### 2. Problems of political education

(a) Possibilities under the German school system; institutional and personal inhibitions; between the extremes of indoctrination and over-specialization.

(b) Civics and Political Science in the universities: the problems of curriculum, mass study, lack of community life, restoration of the

- 14 -

students corporations, mistrust and depolitization of
professors and parents block reform efforts; yet significant
changes in staff, schedules and attitudes, compared with Weimar
or even the immediate post-1945 period

(c) Mass media, adult education (Volkshochschulen) and professional organizations with considerable success (e.g. "The Third Reich" in TV)

(d) Divergent views as to the real effects of organized political education (German tendency to organized perfection; civic culture depends rather on social culture)

3. Political values, nationalism and democracy in West Germany

The main issues of orientation: a functioning economic and social system; alliance with and protection by the West; re-unification. The evident consolidation and stabilization of a democratic system is enhanced by the two former points; the latter point, however, reflects the inherent problems of a state between Provisorium and Definitivum. Here the political attitudes of the Germans, while opposed to any kind of radicalism, remain exposed to serious pressures and insecurities: the old dilemma of nationalism and democracy is not yet definitively resolved.

Ference A. Vali

# OUTLINE

## The Problems of German Re-Unification and its Impact on Internal and External Politics in the Federal Republic of Germany
(provisional title)

I. **Introductory** - A short historic survey of post-World War II evolution of two (or three) Germanys.

II. **Earlier Attitudes to the Re-Unification Question (1949-1959) and Their Influence on the Creation and Development of the Federal Republic:**

(1) The official (CDU-CSU) view: priority of Western ties (and of "freedom") over re-unification; concept of "automatic re-unification"; Federal Republic as sole representative of all Germany (Basic Law, etc.); influence of these concepts on conventions establishing West German sovereignty and on the integration of the Federal Republic into Western political and defense systems.

(2) The opposition (SPD) view: priority of re-unification over all other issues (Schumacher; Heinemann, etc.); the policy of "free hand"; readiness to discuss issue with Soviet Union (and even with East German authorities); opposition against Western commitments; influence of these attitudes on internal and external politics.

(3) Other political views: acceptance of status quo (Dehio); pro-Soviet orientation (Nadolny); neutralist (Noack, Nauheim Circle, etc.); extreme right (Armin Mohler); extreme left (Communist).

III. **Contemporary (since the SPD volte-face in 1946) Views Concerning the Re-Unification Question, Cutting Across Party Lines:**

(1) Advocates of hard (inflexible), strictly legalistic attitudes; opponents of "provisional" solutions;

(a) German "Gaullists" ("patient ones"); long-term view, tenacity, watchfullness; rigid application of Hallstein Doctrine; no "upgrading" of DDR; no negotiations or even contacts on Berlin, etc.

(b) "Impatient" ones; advocates of pressures to be brought on Western Allies; no further intensification of Western ties unless energetic support for re-unification (some FDP views, Thomas Dehler, etc.).

- 2 -

(2) Advocates of more flexible attitudes (often identical with so-called "Atlanticists"); alignment with U.S. foreign policy ("strategy for peace"); search for areas of understanding (on Berlin - Brandt); more liberal application of Hallstein Doctrine (rapprochement to Poland and other East European satellites); opportunistic policy (readiness to conclude provisional arrangements); emphasis on liberalization in the DDR (humanitarian interpretation of re-unification).

(3) Advocates of acceptance of the *status quo* (under the condition of democratic freedom); doctrinaire views (Jaspers, Rüstow).

(4) Other individual or extreme views (often anti-American):

(a) Return to the statu of 1952 (Sebastian Haffner); disengagement of Western and Eastern Germany from alliances and new start;

(b) Direct talks with Soviets (Kroll); solution even at the expense of Western ties;

(c) Anti-Western extremist views (neutralist, national-Belshevist; Deutsche Reichspartei, etc.).

#### IV. Discussion of Some Special Questions Affecting or Interrelated with Re-Unification Problem:

(1) Berlin; how the Berlin issue affects re-unification; its status; the "three Germanys" proposition.

(2) The meaning of re-unification: (a) territorial-political; (b) socio-economic; (c) humanitarian; shifting of attitudes and interpretations in the Federal Republic.

(3) The so-called Hallstein Doctrine and its operation and impact.

(4) The Oder-Neisse frontier and the re-unification problem.

(5) West German planning (political, economic, legal) on re-unification (transitional periods, elections, their supervision, etc.).

V. Conclusions: Future of the re-unification question. The re-unification problem as an international issue.

K. D. Bracher

Politics and Democracy in the Second German Republic
(Outline)

It has often been pointed out that Germany never has experienced the course and the consequences of a successful revolution, and that this was largely responsible for the failure of her efforts towards a democratic system. Indeed, the emergence of modern society and the establishment of a national state in Germany occured under the impact partly of a "revolution from above" (as after 1812 and after 1848), partly of a "revolution by defeat" (as 1918 and again 1945). Both types of pseudo-revolutionary transformations (Revolutions-Ersatz) seemed to prove that it was not possible to reconcile the peculiar traditions and conditions of modern Germany with the postulates of liberal democracy as developed since the great revolutions in the West.

Any discussion of the new German democracy, confronted as it is from the very beginning with the failure of the first post-war democracy of Weimar, culminates in the question how valid that basic assumption of 19th and 20th century German self-interpretation may be. While it is true that in 1945 the conditions of German politics were deeply changed, it cannot be denied that this was again a consequence of external events. But this time their impact proved much stronger than in 1918. The completeness of defeat, occupation policy, economic recovery, and a period of political preparation preceding the re-establishment of German statehood, while again preventing the experience of a successful revolution, yet provided for a new start and a period of consolidation which for the first time allowed the experience of a working democratic system. This is of course the outside picture. What, then, is the real character and the inside substance of that system, behind the surprising stability of its democratic structure?

-2-

# I. The Historical Dilemma

## 1. Impediments of democratic development

Tremendous impact of World War II on Germany - how far revolutionary effects, how far under new conditions continuity of forces and problems dating from the 19th century?

had been
The main issue ~~was~~ the dilemma between

a) a liberal-constitutional solution of the German question

b) the establishment, and integration, of a national state

c) the economic and social emancipation, and its meaning for an expansionism aiming at a hegemonic and world power status for Germany

These issues were competing and conflicting, but with different strength at different periods:

a) first half of 19th century - reaction to French revolution and Napoleon; conflict between constitutional liberalism and national unification; attempt to solve it fails 1848 with the strength of conservative-reactionary powers

b) to 1890 - Bismarck solution from above, impedes accord between social, political and constitutional development; parliament and parties remain subjected to semi-absolutistic power structure

c) to 1918-xxdx - domestic tensions deflected to foreign politics and imperialism; stirrings of prefascist movements; impact of war

d) to 1933 - failure of first democratic experiment

c) to 1945 - exaggeration and exhaustion of national imperialism and its anti-democratic dynamics (foundations)

-3-

## 2. Reasons for the failure of Weimar (resume)

a) Reaction to defeat and Versailles treaty

b) Peculiar character of the (pseudo) revolution

c) Constitutional problems: eclectical perfectionism and liberal weaknesses, but at the same time elements of Obrigkeitsstaat preserved

d) Continuity of authoritarian-bureaucratic structure, with a peculiar Beamtenideologie of anti-party (neutral) and widely anti-democratic character

e) Deep ideological and social cleavages of a strongly split party system, resulting in permanent coalition crises

f) Tendency towards non-party presidential cabinets (Ersatz monarchy)

g) Radical anti-parliamentary opposition instead of constructive opposition within the system

h) Militarizing forces, reactionary and revolutionary, within the society

i) "Unpolitical" army precedes (and supersedes) the Republic, which is considered merely a transient emergency solution

k) Influence of anti-democratic ideologies and legal philosophies

l) Economic and social threat, esp. to the middle classes

m) Attractiveness of dictatorial solutions to class struggle and the disturbing complexity of modern society and politics

n) Use and misuse of modern methods of mass communication, persuasion, manipulation

o) Role of persons: Ebert, Rathenau, Stresemann - Hindenburg, Bruening, Papen, Hugenberg - Nazi leadership

-4-

## 3. Impact of the Nazi regime and its defeat

a) How deeply was that "movement" rooted in German traditions and attitudes?

b) The terror-aspect of the Third Reich - *mysterious* intimidation or lasting effects on population?

c) Propaganda- and persuasion-aspect: resulting in mistrust, scepticism, depolitization

d) Nationalism and war: exhaustion by total exploitation and ensuing total defeat

e) Nivellizing of class structure and emergence ofppem society is quickened by totalitarian politics of mass mobilization; in addition the effects of mass movements of refugees

f) In summa: one dominant *krank* conception of state and politics is by its totalitarian consequences led ad absurdum; liberal and democratic traditions can come to the fore; though quest for security (and how to combine it with freedom) remains as urgent as before

## 4. Post-war origins of the West German Republic

A) Zero hour, end of German history? Question of break and continuity, as compared with 1918

b) Psychological situation and political attitudes: apathy, disturbance, concentration on the immediate necessities of life, differences between generations

c) The impact of information about the Nazi regime; the problem of the war crime trials, of denazification and re-education

d) Stages of occupation policies; economic and social conditions; regional beginnings of German politics

-5-

e) The problem of division and the loss of territories

f) The basic dilemma: previserium or definitivum, super-national integration or national re-unification; trends of evaluation

g) Weimar and Bonn: to what extent was German democracy re-shaped or rather mewly shaped by the two post-war situations compared

## II/ Constitutional Development and Political Structure

1. Weimar and Bonn: modifications of the Basic Law

a) Three contentions out of the double catastrophe of 1933 and 1945:
to avoid the weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution
to master the heritage of totalitarian dictatorship
to modify the realities of occupation policy and transform it into
a functioning democratic state of its own

b) Of first importance appeared the experience of Weimar and its failure; constitutional conclusions of considerable weight (some think too much)

1) to prevent dualism between parliamentary and presidential elements

2) by weakening the position of the president

3) strengthening that of the chancellor and his government( only
chancellor is responsible; Konstruktives Misstrauensvetum)

4) recognizing the political role of the parties, while the electoral

law works against splinter parties
certain

5) the basic principles of democratic structure are declared unchangeable: civil rights, federal structure, multi-party system; democratic structure of parties and their full adherence to the constitution are demanded

6) constitution not neutral (as in Weimar) but bound to basic democratic values; thus pseudo-legal change (as 1933) impossible, as far as a constitution can hinder it. Such an elaboration seems

-6-

necessary in a country where legal positivism is stronger than consti-
tutional traditions.

7) establishment of a federal constitutional court as guardian and inter-
preter of that constitution of modified parliamentary democracy

2. The federal structure - past and present

a) Traditional elements of German federalism, as distinct from any other European country, except Switzerland

b) Problems of delimitation after 1918 (Reichsreform) and 1945; again impact of occupation (as 1806) on Neugliederung

c) The Laender, in new shape, as first stage in re-establishing German statehood

d) The significance of the Bundesrat, politically, administratively

e) The practical importance of federal structure: furthers political mobility, serves as reservoir of political leaders and offers opportunity of political participation to parties which at the federal level are in opposition

f) Discussion of advantages and disadvantages of federalism; functions of centralizing, decentralizing, concepts of subsidiarity; problems of a decentralized culture and education policy

g) How far could traditional German federalism and projected European federalism support each other?

3. Bundesverfassungsgericht - its legal, political, educational significance

a) Corresponds to the concept of modified parliamentary democracy: parliament is not omnipotent and beyond constitution. The court as highest authority is however elected by Bundestag and Bundesrat and therefore exposed to attempts of the parties and especially of the government to influence, with its composition, the constitutional decisions. The court, furthermore, can act only on application, not on its own

-7-

b) This is understandable, especially in view of the growing political weight of the court; proved more efficient and independent than the Staatsgerichtshof of the Weimar Republic (e. g. 1932). Its great impact became visible in connection with a number of important decisions: politically as a safeguard of democracy and an additional means of political control; in terms of political education of the public by spreading knowledge of, and trust in, the constitutional order (unlike Weimar).

c) Two main functions: constitutionally - guarding the compatibility and conformity of political acts (by government and legislature) with the constitution and particularly its basic articles (civil rights, substance unchangeable, defense of democratic and federal structure); politically - helping to maintain the balance of federal and state powers, and between the executive and legislative branches, often by supporting opposition against superior power of chancellor regime; in this connection electoral modus significant (by Bundestag and Bundesrat) each with 2/3 majority

d) Legal and technical competences remarkably wide (some details)

e) Some examples of decisions, their political framework and their effects

4. Problems of an emergency law

a) Present discussion concentrates on the legal possibilities, the political implications and the argument of necessity (as a means to transfer the role and the rights of the former occupation powers).

b) Centroversies about comparative examples of emergency legislation and the historical experience: V. Republic; role of emergency powers in the destruction of the Weimar Republic

c) Different stages of discussion and various drafts of emergency legislation since 1955

-8-

d) Present situation: the Heecherl-Plan and the political fronts; distinction between outer and inner emergency; critical evaluation

### III. Government and Administration - Trends of Development

#### 1. The Kanzlerdemokratie

a) The weight of institutional and of personal factors for the emergence of that particular form of government, combining features of parliamentary and cabinet democracy with some elements of presidential dem.

b) Constitutional and institutional provisions (resume)

c) The emergence of Adenauer and the specific style and technique of his rule (relation to parties and parliament, pressures groups, the public) The effects on parliament and parties; plebiscitary elements and tendencies, authoritarian and bureaucratic traits of rule

d) Crisis and decline of Chancellor system since 1959 and 1961; end of the Adenauer era. Transformation and aspects of a new style in the relationship of Chancellor, parliament, parties, interest groups and the public.

#### 2. Parliament and bureaucracy

Follows some observations in the *Deadalus* article, with special reference to the German situation, and to the problems of parliament and bureaucracy on the level of the *Laender*

#### 3. The place of the new army: Bundeswehr and democracy

a) Different from 1918: establishment of democracy precedes re-establishment (and even consideration) of army; break and continuity appear in a different light

b) Main periods: the great swing of 1950/51, its external and internal motives (cold war and Korea; West orientation and German sovereignty) Rearmament controversy in public opinion and between political groups

-9-

c) Institutional and technical planning before 1954 (EDC) and after; supra-national and national aspects

d) The problem again: army and democracy. Political safeguards, reform conceptions (citizen in uniform); but problems of (national) tradition; relationship to party- and parliamentary politics (esp. opposition); the army as vehicle of political education (Schule der Nation) - pro and contra.

e) The army in a world civil war situation, in a divided nation

f) Domestic and international restrictions of German military power; the political meaning of its position within the strategy of the West

## IV. The Party System

### 1. Process of Concentration

b) Most important the foundation and development of the CDU as a new party of bi-confessional, class-transcending nature, though based mainly on four Christian trade unionism, traditional groupings: Center party, Bavarian federalism, Protestant middle-class conservatism, unifying role of common experience of Nazi period (and resistance). Changing patterns before (moderate socialist) and after 1948/49 (modified capitalism, combining social and conservative elements)

c) Changing traditional party: SPD. The way to Godesberg

-10-

a) Effects of chancellor democracy point at the cabinet system of Britain: versus not government and parliament but government and its parliamentary party versus opposition party. This implies, with the decline of parliament, the replacement of the classical division of power by a new confrontation; with federalism and the federal court as additional factors of control

c) Evaluation of the three-party system in the light of that structural traditional change. Will the coalition structure of German politics survive the increasing dominance of direct government-opposition confrontation, or is it finally to be a two-party constellation which corresponds to the pragmatically changed attitude of the voter?

A) The postulates of the constitution and the aging problem of a party law

-11-

1. The increasing role of interest organisations

b) Increasingly dense interest group structure of German society (industry and business, agriculture, white collar, professions), as reaction to dirigism and Gleichschaltung of Nazi period, and corresponding to the 1949 decision for "Seziale Markwirtschaft" (whatever this be)

c) Confrontation of economic interest groups: free enterprise system, state intervention, subventions etc.; the neo-liberal philosophy

d) Confrontation of social issues like social health and pension system

f) Foreign policy and political pressure: veterans and refugee organisations

via parties, or bureaucracy, or chancellor(Adenauer), or direct pressure
(strike, boycott); striking instances of agrarian pressure politics (gruene
Front), most recently on German Common Market policy

The early impact of the Marshall and Shumann plan agencies proved decisive
far and shaped the German attitude (e. g. the role of German trade unions
in this respect: of M. Kohnstamm in Daedalus); on the other hand develop-
ment of the East-West trade, with its special importance for the problem

-12-

These tendencies appear highly important with respect to the future European policy and its Atlantic frame, they influence also the policies towards the developing countries (internally: problem of guest workers and guest students)

## VI. The civic culture: democratic institutions and political attitudes

### 1. Trends of political public opinion

b) Civics and Political Science in the universities: the problems of curriculum, mass study, lack of community life, restoration of the students corporations, mistrust and depolitization of professors and parents block reform efforts; yet significant changes in staff, and schedules and attitudes, compared with Weimar or even the immediate post-1945 period

c) Mass media, adult education (Volksheochschulen) and professional organizations with considerable success (e. g. "The Third Reich" in TV)

-13-

The main issues of orientation: a functioning economic and social system; alliance with and protection by the West; re-unification. The evident consolidation and stabilization of a democratic system is enhanced by the two former points; the latter point, however, reflects the inherent problems of a state between Provisrium and Definitivum. Here the political attitudes of the Germans, while opposed to any kind of radicalism, remain exposed to serious pressures and insecurities: the old dilemma of nationalism and democracy is not yet definitively resolved.