What caused Weimar German to suffer such extreme economic dislocations - Essay Example

In an examination of the timeline and developments during the Weimar Republic, it is easy to understand how the failure of the democratic experiment in Germany at this time did not sum up the state’s capacity to govern itself under such a pluralist system. Much of it has to do with the economic collapse that has single-handedly torn down all the institutions and factors that have held the democratic system together. This paper will investigate what led to the Weimar Republic’s economic collapse.

In the process, it is expected that such examination would help to better understand the regime and its significance in the development of the German state afterwards. The Weimar Republic certainly was doomed to ill-fate from the moment of its inception because it was associated with the country’s humiliating defeat during World War I. According to a scholar, the turbulence of the post-War situation and the fragility of the political climate contributed to the weak government: Stable democratic government was in jeopardy throughout the life of the Weimar Republic.

The country was governed by unpopular minority cabinets, by internally weak Grand Coalitions, or finally, by extra-parliamentary authoritarian Presidential Cabinets.1 An interesting insight was offered by Van Mises (2008) in his analysis of the Weimar’s collapse, he posits that democracy was not attune to Germany’s needs and interests as a country, at least during the regime’s period. He argued that democracy is adequate to smaller countries, whose independence is safeguarded by the mutual rivalries of the great powers, or, to nations like England and the United States, which are sheltered by their geographical locations.

Van Mises stressed that Germany do not enjoy these advantages: Germany is surrounded by hostile nations; it stands alone in the world; its borders are not protected by natural barriers; its security is founded on its army… It would be