Strengths and Weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution

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  • Created by: kitgcse
  • Created on: 05-11-22 12:17

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution

Advantages

  • Proportional representation - small parties had a fair share of seats
  • Woman able to vote as well as men - more equality
  • Voting age reduced from 25 to 20 - more people could vote, fairer
  • Election for president every 7 years
  • Central government more powerful than before, but local government still had power in their regions
  • Reichsrat (Parliament representing the regions of Germany) could regulate the power of the Reichstag (more powerful house) by delaying new laws

Disadvantages

  • Not the people's choice - unpopular
  • Proportional representation lead to coalition governments that were unstable, often fell apart
  • Lack of strong government, weakness in a crisis which led to the president passing laws without the consent of the Reichstag - Article 48

Evaluation

There were both strengths and weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution. While the way things were set up in the new government were found to be more democratic, the Constitution was not the choice of the people, resulting in it being unpopular with a lot of people.

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