Umash Patel 12/N
Describe the key features of the Weimar Constitution
The Weimar constitution worked better than the second Reich, which reformed in 1918. The constitution was present for a number of years in Germany, which reflected the effectiveness of the system. It was under a far more democratic regime due to the change in the political structure hence involving more elections due to the voting system that was in power.
Firstly, the main key feature of the Weimar Republic was its new electoral system. Part of the system is the introduction of proportional representation that meant parties in the Riechtag would gain seats depending upon the number of votes they got in the most recent election. The consequence of this was that it brought a number of parties together with the help of another key feature of the constitution, the “Bill of Rights”. This meant that parties could express their views, as the “Bill of Rights” was a law that gave people the freedom of speech. This union made representation of many opposing parties very open, which effectively made the Weimar constitution more democratic. However P.R made it difficult for a lot of parties to gain a majority of seats in the Reichstag, which made it harder for one major party to take control of the country. This P.R system made it a coalition government whereby the country is ruled by many parties together having to make joint decisions, therefore made it more difficult to compromise and lead to a weaker government resulting to further elections, making the constitution unstable.
