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Germany > FRGs Constitution > Flashcards

FRGs Constitution Flashcards

1
Q

What was the FRGs Constitution called?

A

Basic Law

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2
Q

What was the Constitution written under the assumption that?

A

It would be rewritten when Germany reunited.

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3
Q

Why was the Basic Law written more freely then the Weimar one had been done?

A

The Weimar constition had to work against pressure groups from the army, trade unions and monarchists/ the aristocraticy. These groups now had no longer significant power bases from which to oppose a goverment.

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4
Q

What were 3 progressive parts to the basic law?

A
  1. Equal rights to German citizens, regardless of sex, race, political views or religeon. 2. Free speech, freedom to form trade unions, free assembly and no censorship. 3. State education for all although private schooling was allowed.
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5
Q

What is an example that shows the Basic Law had the potential to be repressive?

A

It was possible to nan political parties if they were seen to undermine the FRG or its democraic principles.

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6
Q

What was the FRGs law making body made up of?

A

The Bundestag and the Bundestrat

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7
Q

What was the bundestag?

A

It was elected by a ballot of voters every 4 years. Electors vote for a regional representative but also vote for a party. Votes are sorted by proportion al representation. It passed the law of the country.

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8
Q

How was a party elected into the bundestag?

A

It’s proportional representation, however the party needs atleast 5 percent of the vote to gain a seat.

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9
Q

What was the bundesrat?

A

Representatives from the lander, chosen by the lander from those elected to the lander

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10
Q

Who was the Head of state in the FRG?

A

The president

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11
Q

How was the president elected?

A

It was elected by a federal convention every 5 years.

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12
Q

What was the federal convention made up of?

A

All bundestag members and an equal number of bundesrat members.

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13
Q

How did the judiciary system work in the FRG?

A

There are federal courts and locally regional courts

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14
Q

How does local legislature work?

A

16 Lander are elected by voters in their region.

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15
Q

How does local government work in the FRG?

A

It varies reflecting how the original state was set up. Each state is divided into counties and these counties run their own local services, water power etc. Local official’s have some power over local planning. Cities have their own municipal goverment as do SOME towns.

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16
Q

What date was the first election to the Bundestag?

A

14 August 1949

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17
Q

What were the results of the first election?

A

The CDU/CSU won 31% of the vote whilst the SPD won 29.2%. The FDP and Liberal collation won 11.9% of the vote so they held the balance of power.

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18
Q

Who was the first FDP chancellor?

A

Konrad Adenauer, the leader of the CDU

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19
Q

How did the USSR respond to the creation of the FRG?

A

It set up the GDR with a separate Constitution. and the SED was the majority party.

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20
Q

How did talks about unifying the country go in the early FRG?

A

Both the FRG and the GDR spoke about and negotiated reunifiying the country. However they developed a number of policies which tied them to the West and USSR respectively.

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21
Q

When was the Hallstein doctorine passed?

A

1955

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22
Q

What was the hallstein doctrine?

A

The doctrine refused to recognise the legality of East Germany as a separate country. It announced that it spoke for the whole of Germany in world affairs and would have no diplomatic relations with any country that had diplomatic relations with the GDR?

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23
Q

What are two examples of Germany acting on the halstien doctrine?

A

It cut off relations with Yugoslavia in 1957 and Cuba in 1963

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24
Q

What years was Adenauer chancellor of West germany for?

A

1949-1963

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25
Q

How did Adenauers critics say that he ruled Germany?

A

They said that he ruled a chancellor democracy

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26
Q

What did chancellor democracy mean?

A

They said that Adenauer had a authoritarian style of leadership and had more power then the basic law allowed.

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27
Q

What is an example of evidence of Adenauer running a chancellor democracy?

A

He controlled domestic and foreign policy as chancellor and foreign minister. At the same time, he appointed weak ministers (Erhard being an exception,) whom he treated as advisors not political equals.

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28
Q

What was a benefit of Adenauers forceful personality?

A

He kept the FRG coalitions working together until he did not need to as the CDU/CSU won a majority. The chancellor stayed from this party until 1969

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29
Q

What were the two goals Adenauer set out when he came into office?

A
  1. Uniting Germany 2. Working for closer European integration
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30
Q

What did people point out was the issue with Adenauers policy issues?

A

They were contradictory as each goal would work against each other.

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31
Q

Why did some people argue that FRG should work along side the west?

A

It would be the fastest way to rebuild the economy and as a result prevent political problems.

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32
Q

How did Adenauer change voting rules in 1953?

A

Vote allocations and seat changes made it harder for smaller parties to gain seats in the bundestag

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33
Q

What party did Adenauer ban in 1952?

A

The extreme right-winged socalist reich party

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34
Q

What party was banned in 1956?

A

The KPD after it was declared unconstitutional in their attitude to democratic government.

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35
Q

What did these changes to votes result in?

A

They resulted in a three party bundestag. This reminded people of the Nazi government and the shifting coalitions all supported the status quo. More and more saw this as running against the democratic spirit of basic law

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36
Q

What did many people believe was a mistake Adenauer made when he attempted to quickly rebuild the civil service?

A

He employed to many ex Nazis

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37
Q

Why did Adenauer employed so many ex Nazis?

A

In 1939, all goverment workers had to join the Nazi party or lose their jobs. Adenauer argued that letting them work again in their democratic system was the only way to establish an effective civil service.

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38
Q

What was the idea of the year zero?

A

A policy that no questions should be asked about what happen3d before 1945

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39
Q

What was Article 131 of the basic law?

A

It was added in 1951 allowing ex nazis to work in the civil service, many believing that this showed the CDUs Nazi sympathies.

40
Q

What did a 1952 Bundestag report do?

A

It named 5 ex Nazis that were working in the foreign ministry, saying that this could damage the FRGS reputation abroad.

41
Q

What was theeavye of Expelles party?

A

The BHE it was led by ex SS officer Waldemar Kraft

42
Q

What happened with the BHE in 1953?

A

It won enough seats to be part of the coalition government

43
Q

What happened with the BHE in 1954?

A

It broke up, with many members joining the CDU.

44
Q

What problems did the goverment find when trying to form the army?

A

The same as the civil service had, they ended up employing ex nazis to solve their problem.

45
Q

Why did the SPD gain popularity?

A

After the CDU had begun to implement what people saw as anti democratic policies they began turning away from them, the SPD then revised its policy’s to become even more appealing and decided to support the idea of a free market economy

46
Q

What did Adenauer do in January 1961?

A

He tried to set up a government controlled television station, realising that television would play a major part in election campaigns.

47
Q

What was the reaction to Adenauers attempt?

A

On the 28th of Febuary, the supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.

48
Q

What happened in October 1962?

A

The magazine, der spiegel published an article critising the performance of West german troops in a recent Nato excerise. Adenauer supported the arrest of those involved on the orders of the minister of defence.

49
Q

What was the result of Adenauers actions with the journalists?

A

FDP ministers resigned in protest and Adenauer only managed to get an SPD coalition by promising to resign in 1963

50
Q

What does free market economy mean?

A

An economy where the goverment does not interfere with the policies of businesses to control the economy, including prices and wages.

51
Q

What was the name for the policy of establishing friendly relations with East Germany?

A

Ostpolitik

52
Q

Who were the two CDU chancellors after Adenauer and when did they hold office?

A

Erhard (1963-66.) Kiesinger (1966-69.)

53
Q

Who did both of these chancellors run coalitions with?

A

The newly reformed SPD which was now more liberal

54
Q

During the SPD and CDU alliance what was happening in the CDU party?

A

It was splitting between atlanatictis ( people who wanted to carry on working with the West, especially the USA and Britain) and Gaulists (who were prepared to work with France but wanted to shift the focus to cooperating with East Germany.)

55
Q

What types of policies did Erhard follow?

A

Adenauers atlantacist policies

56
Q

What policy did Erhard constantly try to introduce which the SPD prevented?

A

One which would allow an emergency law to tap phones, search homes, open mail etc in times of serious political tension.

57
Q

What caused Erhard to resign in 1966?

A

He tried to introduce a budget that included such heavy taxation that the FDP ministers resigned and Erhard could not form a coalition.

58
Q

What was the grand coalition?

A

After Erhard resigned, a coalition between the CDU CSU and SPD was formed, with Kissenger as chancellor but SPD leader Brant as vice chancellor and foreign minister.

59
Q

When the grand coalition formed what was the political scene like?

A

The German economy was in a down turn and there was growing political hostility to the goverment, some of it violent.

60
Q

When did opposition to the goverment come from?

A

Small extremist political parties, such as neo Nazi national democratic party and other groups such as students and the German federation of trade unions.

61
Q

What did the increased goverment opposition push the goverment to become?

A

More repressive, making them introduce the previously mentioned emergency law on the 28th of June 1968

62
Q

What did the coalition believe would bring back goverment support again?

A

A shift towards ostpolitik.

63
Q

Who was the first chancellor to support ostpolitik?

A

Kissengier

64
Q

When did Brandt become chancellor?

A

1969

65
Q

What coalition did Brandt rule over?

A

SDP and FDP alliance

66
Q

How long did the SPD and FDP alliance last?

A

Between 1969-1982 under Brandt and Schmidt.

67
Q

What was Brandts stance on the ex Nazi assimilation?

A

He had spent the war in Norway and was very critical of the policy.

68
Q

What was Brandts main policy?

A

Ostpolitik

69
Q

How was Brandts commitment to Ostpolitik recieved?

A

With serious opposition, especially in the regional goverment but also the bundestag

70
Q

What were 2 liberal policies of the SPDs which was met with serious opposition in the bundestag?

A
  1. Decriminalisation of homosexuality. 2 Reducing the voting age to 18.
71
Q

Why did the CSU work to undermine the SDP and FDP coalition?

A

They found it hard to accept that they had less political party.

72
Q

What happened in October 1970?

A

Several significant FDP politicians joined the CDU

73
Q

What happened in March 1972?

A

Several SPD members joined the CDU and forved a constructive vote of no confidence naming a CDU member as replacement chancellor.

74
Q

How did the vote of no confidence against Brandt go?

A

It failed but only by 2 votes

75
Q

How did Brandt respond to the vote of no confidence?

A

He called an early election in November 1972, in effect a vote on Brandt and ostpolitik

76
Q

What was the result of the election of 1972?

A

It was the highest turnout ever and the SPD won the most seats.

77
Q

When did Brandt resign?

A

The 24th May 1974

78
Q

Why did Brandt resign?

A

It was discovered that one of Brandts advisors was a GDR spy. Even though it was shown he knew nothing of this, he felt compelled to resign despite the support of his party and others in the bundestag because he felt he should have known about and stopped the spy

79
Q

Who was the new SPD chancellor after brandt?

A

Schmidt

80
Q

What type of policies did Schmidt introduce?

A

He was careful not to introduce any sort of politically radical policies.

81
Q

Why did Schmidt mainly win the elections of 1976 and 80?

A

There was no viable CDU candidat.

82
Q

Why did Schmidt face opposition against his economic policies?

A

They were felt to be adopting economic measures such as high taxation and welfare cuts which made him as Conservative as members of the CSU, he was also failing to push through any economic policies.

83
Q

What political party caused growing opposition to Schmidt?

A

The Green Party

84
Q

Who were the green party?

A

They represented the environmental issues that were of growing concern of the 1970s and 80s which attracted a growing number of protesters from all ages and classes.

85
Q

What happened on the 1st of October 1982?

A

Schmidt was forced to resign after there was a constructive vote of no confidence and he was replaced by the CDUs Kohl

86
Q

When did the greens start to win seats?

A

1983

87
Q

How many seats did the green party win in 1983 and 1987?

A

27 and then 42

88
Q

Why did Kohl call early elections in March 1983?

A

He had started his leadership as an unelected chancellor so he wanted to consolidate his leadership

89
Q

How did the 1983 elections go?

A

The CDU/CSU won 48.8% of the vote which validated Kohl’s position although he gaved opposition in the bundestag from the greens on the left and the newly set up Republicans on the right.

90
Q

What was a problem to do with the media that Kohl had to deal with?

A

The Media was uncovering corruption scandals that effected politicians in every party but the greens.

91
Q

What approach did Kohl take to economic policies and ostpolitik?

A

He followed those of earlier goverments,aiming for stability.

92
Q

What was one factor which contributed in Kohl’s desire for stability?

A

There was an Outbreak of terrorism directed at other governments and German institutions.

93
Q

Why did reunification seem a distant prospect for Kohl?

A

although he was still working towards it and the Societ union was allowing greater freedom to Eastern Europe, the East German goverment had not been welcoming the changes.

94
Q

What happened in Hungary in 1989 and what did this cause?

A

It opened its border to the west and lifted travel restrictions. This lead to increasing pressure on East Germany to lift its borders

95
Q

What happened on the 1st of January 1989?

A

East Germany relaxed its travel restrictions

96
Q

What happened from September 1989?

A

Hungary allowed East Germans to cross any border allowing them to make their way to the FRG causinh demonstrations for the border to be opened.

97
Q

What happened on the 9th of November 1989?

A

Travel restrictions were lifted and Germany was United again.

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