Why was stable democracy so late in coming to Germany - Essay Example

? Democracy in Germany The arrival of Stable Democracy in Germany by of the of the of the school/university City where school/university is located Date Democracy in Germany/2 Stable Democracy and its arrival in Germany Democracy is the most popular form of government in existence today. Followed by most nations across the world, the concept of a democracy has been widely accepted as the form of government that allows political freedom to the maximum number of people in a country. It is thus, the most egalitarian form of government in a lot of senses, whatever be its other drawbacks. The popularity of this form of government can be seen in the dissatisfaction that members of non-democratic and authoritarian regimes express with their governments and the revolutions that have happened in history for the establishment of democracies. Such fights have often bore fruit with the result of a greater freedom to the masses of a nation and the distribution of power into a wider pool. Stable democracy has been often defined as one that is able to endure over a large period of time. Some commentators put this at twenty-five years while others prescribe other amounts of time to qualify a democracy as a stable one. This however leads one to the question of whether one may be able to call a democracy a stable one if it meets the condition of durability but is closer in its sensibilities to an authoritarian regime. This has caused the rise of other views as to what constitutes a stable democracy, such as the state’s ability to pacify its citizens and provide them with an incentive for the continuation of the regime (Mundt, 2010). This makes it Democracy in Germany/3 possible for the regime to complete its term uninterrupted, without the fear of revolutions that may topple it. A major reason to which the success of democratic regimes all over the world has been ascribed is the rise of nationalism, which in turn, was a consequence of the rise of the bourgeoisie. The rise of the bourgeoisie led to an increase in trade and commerce which in turn flourished because of the colonial expansions that took place during the nineteenth century (it had been happening for a very long time by then, but it reached a crescendo with the onset of the Industrial Revolution). The increase in the importance of industry as a means of producing wealth required the importance to shift from land, which was the case till then. The rise of the bourgeoisie led to the commencement of many revolutions in different parts of Europe that took inspiration from the French Revolution of 1789 (Hobsbawm, 2008). These revolutions accelerated the onset of democracy in many countries, since most of them were based on ideologies that promoted egalitarianism. Following these revolutions, aristocracy died a slow death in most of the countries that they occurred. This was the beginning of a process of transition that led to the establishment of democracy in many countries around the world. Towards the beginning of this process of transition, the bourgeoisie was a revolutionary force that quickened the pace of the transition. However, once the process reached its logical Democracy in Germany/4 conclusion, a state of democracy where these very middle classes held the reins of power, the revolutionary fervor of this class of people quickly died out. This led to a stasis, a condition of stability which helped in the development of democracy into the dominant mode of government all over Europe. There are many conditions that a country needs to fulfill to qualify itself as a stable democracy. The holding of free and fair elections is one of the most major functions of a democracy that seeks the betterment of its people. This procedure enables the people of a nation to elect its own government through a system where they are able to vote. All the citizens of a nation may not be able to vote as some democracies reserve this right for certain sections of the society. For a very long time since the establishment of democracies, for instance, women were not granted the right to vote. For a stable democracy to exist, however, it is important that universal suffrage be a precondition since it negates the possibility of a revolt by any groups that have been denied the right to vote. Another important feature that is important for a stable democracy is the right to expression that the citizens of that democracy are provided with. This enables them to express their reservations regarding the policies of the government which may enable the government to introduce alterations in them. This again, is a measure that helps in maintaining the stability of Democracy in Germany/5 the government since the government is able to pre-empt any form of revolt and is able to take swift action to rectify the mistakes that are the causes of discontent among the people. A stable democracy thus has features within its framework that enable it to endure over a period of time during which it is able to provide governance to its people. Many countries in Europe moved to a democratic mode of functioning after a process that was set in motion by events which followed the French Revolution. Germany, however, was an exception. Even though it provided its people with universal suffrage as early as in 1871 during the times of Otto von Bismarck, stable democracy did not arrive in this nation until its defeat in the Second World War. There are many reasons for this, some of which this paper shall seek to discuss. Germany, unlike many of the other countries of Europe, did not have a unifying factor that favored the growth of democracy, unlike other countries of Europe. Germany was composed of people of different political and regional allegiances. Their loyalties, were thus divided and the force of nationalism that helped unite many other nations of Europe into a democracy, was absent in Germany. The ‘homogeneity hypothesis’ regarding democracy and its stability states “that a stable, effective democracy requires a relatively homogeneous population” (Direct Essays, 2010). The principle of cooperation on which democracy is based, requires the people of a certain nation to have a common factor that binds them together. The lack of such a unifying factor Democracy in Germany/6 among the population of Germany led to a great delay in the establishment of a stable democracy in this country. Composed of twenty-seven constituent territories, with most of them under the rule of a different royal family, Germany was a divided empire in 1871. The challenge of forging a democracy out of this group, which did not have any common factor to speak of, was one of the major causes of the delay in the arrival of democracy in Germany. The unity that was provided by the rule of Bismarck was one that prioritized unity of the nation over freedom. This unity is different from the unity that is required for a stable democracy and was ensured by political actions from the upper echelons of power and not from the masses (Facts, 2011). It is however, sad paradox that when Germany found itself united, it was not in favor of a democracy but against it. The period immediately following the First World War was one where the German people were smarting under the defeat that had been handed down to it and the strict conditions to be followed by its government under the Treaty of Versailles. This led to widespread discontent against the Weimar Republic which had been established by the victors of the war under a framework that followed their ideologies and beliefs. The Germans felt the smart of this insult and felt a certain kind of unity in their moment of humiliation. Moreover, they had no incentive to support the Weimar republic, since the ethics of governance had not changed from the earlier one of the German Reich, one that had caused great misery to the German peoples through its inept handling of the war. The refusal to accept the blame for the loss of the Democracy in Germany/7 war and the incompetent management of the war also led to the widespread discontent that prevailed in Germany after the First World War. Moreover, there was widespread discontent at the ideals which were slightly more democratic than that of the German Reich because of their origin in the land of the enemy. Democracy could not strike its roots in Germany around this time because of the prejudices against it as a foreign measure that was attempted to be introduced by an enemy country. This further weakened the cause of democracy and the setting up of a stable democratically elected government in Germany (ibid). The creation of the Weimar Republic under a new constitution also granted various new rights to political parties. New parties came into being during the era between the two World Wars, notably The Communist Party of Germany. A number of parties came into existence around this time; among them was Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party. His party benefited from the fears of a civil war that the success of the communist parties brought about. His temporary success to an extent was fuelled by the support that he was able to gain from the masses of Germany who were looking for a leader who would salvage their pride, which had been dented following the defeat after the Second World War. Hitler’s authoritarian policies made the establishment of a stable democracy a difficult proposition for Germany. Since he was able to provide the German people with temporary prosperity by enabling the quick growth of the German economy and providing employment in his war machine to a large number of people, Democracy in Germany/8 organizing a mandate for a democratic state would have been difficult in that era of German history. The magnetic power of Hitler’s oratory was also instrumental in the setbacks that democracy faced during this period of autocracy in Germany. The establishment of democracy would not have been possible without the defeat of Hitler’s form of government, which had the power to unite, but not to free. The period during which the Nazis ruled over Germany also was a serious setback to the institutions that help the functioning of democracy to go on in a smooth manner. The rights of ordinary citizens to free speech and expression were not a feature of the repressive Nazi regime that sought to crush every voice of dissent within Germany. With the single aim of gaining supremacy over the world through military might, Hitler tried to suppress every German voice except his own. The spirit of cooperation and egalitarianism that is a necessary feature of every democracy was greatly damaged during the rule of Hitler. His drive to ‘Aryanize’ Germany and eliminate the foreign elements such as the Jews led to great schisms within the German society that caused near irreparable damage to the cause of a stable democracy in Germany. The unity that is required for the purpose of forging together a democracy was never present in Germany. The brand of unity that one was likely to find was one that was fostered by brute physical force, hardly the kind needed for a modern democracy (ibid). The defeat of the Nazi Forces, however, was also the defeat of the non-democratic modes of government that the Germans were under. Unlike the reaction that the First World War Democracy in Germany/9 elicited, the Second World War made the Germans realize the fact that the war was something that they had brought upon themselves and not an event that had been forced upon them from the outside. This resulted in an intense soul-searching that finally resulted in the establishment of a democracy that the Germans hoped would last for more than their earlier experiments with it. On this occasion, they met with success and the German state was able to transform itself into a democracy. The stability of this democracy can be gauged by the fact that this German state has been able to rescue itself from the hole that it found itself after the Second World War and turn itself into one of the most developed countries in the world, with the democratically elected governments ensuring a good standard of living for its people (ibid). Democracy in Germany/10 Works Cited Hobsbawm, E., 2008. The age of revolution:1789-1848. London: Abacus. Mundt, R.J., 2010. Is Democracy Stable? Compared to What?: A Preliminary Exploration [Online]. Available at http://www.stier.net/writing/demstab/stability.htm. [Accessed 18th August, 2011]. Direct Essays. 2010. Stable Democracy. [Online]. Available at http://www.directessays.com/viewpaper/91634.html. [Accessed 18th August, 2011]. Facts about Germany. 2011. History. [Online]. Available at http://www.tatsachen-ueber- deutschland.de/en/history.html. [Accessed 17th August, 2011]. Read More