The “Grand Coalition State” between Past and Present

Abstract

In the second half of the twentieth century, the analysis of the German political system has been greatly influenced by past failures and tragedies (the Weimar Republic and Nazism), on one hand. On the other, by the virtues shown by the Federal Republic of Germany over the last sixty years: the extraordinarily widespread support for democracy shown by the political class and the citizens alike; the achievement of an accomplished democracy of political alternation in power; the high degree of political stability; and excellent economic and foreign policy outcomes, the first and foremost of which is the German reunification.¹ In this regard, the 1990 decision to proceed with the idea of adopting West Germany’s legal and political structure in the territory of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), rather than going through the arduous process of drafting and approving a new constitution, can be seen as a “success story” (Dalton 1993; Sontheimer 1999).

Keywords

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