Do you know how many parties had members in the parliament of the Weimar Republic when Hitler was named Chancellor?
I learned in school – not sure if this part is entirely accurate but its an interesting idea anyway – that this situation was precisely why there is a ~5% of votes, lower barrier for parties sending representatives in many modern European democracies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_threshold
No it’s not the same, Trump is obvious, that’s because of the 2 party system, and first past the post.
And people moronically believed Trump was a vote against the political establishment, and for the minimal state.
Trying to remember what i learned in history here, i hope i get at least most of it right:
the political institutions of the Weimar republic were not as balanced and protected from interference as in other democracies
many parties were against the existence of the Weimar Republic
they differed a little in what they wanted instead though, ranging from reintroducing the monarchy with a few republican elements, to full fledged socialism
the difference between the parties made finding compromises very difficult and often resulted in stalemates in the legislative, because of missing checks this did not affect the executive as much though
especially the monarchists liked the idea of heaving a leader that can overrule the parliament if needed and so it was easy for Hitler to get them to agree that they would all be better off with him breaking the stalemate so to speak. So they formed a coalition
Those parties also had no qualms with banning other parties just because they disagreed on something, which Hitler was very happy to do, starting with the communists and ending with a complete ban on forming political parties after every serious contender was eliminated
especially the monarchists liked the idea of heaving a leader that can overrule the parliament
I especially noticed this as probably the key practical part in how it was possible.
It’s interesting because I’ve always considered multiple parties to be an important way to protect democracy.
But I guess that ultimately it depends on the people being willing to protect it.
Still having 10 parties represented, makes for a better chance that minority views are represented. And I still believe it helps against corruption and strengthen democracy relative to only 2 parties.
Do you know how many parties had members in the parliament of the Weimar Republic when Hitler was named Chancellor?
I learned in school – not sure if this part is entirely accurate but its an interesting idea anyway – that this situation was precisely why there is a ~5% of votes, lower barrier for parties sending representatives in many modern European democracies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_threshold
No I didn’t, that’s very interesting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_political_parties
What I don’t get is, how Hitler managed to take control with that many parties? He should not have been in a position with power to do that?
Same way trump won the primary in 2016, everyone was disunited and a focused minority could overrule them all.
No it’s not the same, Trump is obvious, that’s because of the 2 party system, and first past the post.
And people moronically believed Trump was a vote against the political establishment, and for the minimal state.
I mean the GOP primary, the others divided the vote and let him walk away with it.
Sorry my bad, yes that’s actually a good point. 👍
Trying to remember what i learned in history here, i hope i get at least most of it right:
Thanks that’s a very nice summary.
It’s interesting because I’ve always considered multiple parties to be an important way to protect democracy.
But I guess that ultimately it depends on the people being willing to protect it.
Still having 10 parties represented, makes for a better chance that minority views are represented. And I still believe it helps against corruption and strengthen democracy relative to only 2 parties.