Another factor that made the public begin to lose faith in the government was the dual system of President and the Reichstag. Following the end of the war it was difficult for the German people to adjust to not following one ruler and to govern the country by the democratic process. Throughout the Weimar period the people were unclear to whether it was the president or the chancellor of the Reichstag who was the ultimate source of authority. The powers of authority that the president had were in fact very similar to that of the old Ersatzkaiser, many left wing Germans would have criticised this for taking power away from the Reichstag an effectively reinstating parts of the old monarchy. This could have been a way of compromising to gain support from the left and right.
Throughout the Weimar period the president held the right to bypass the Reichstag in times of emergency. This is thought to be a major flaw by many historians in the Weimar constitution, although it was not uncommon for articles like this to be included in constitutions. The reason this was seen as such a failure was that Hitler used this article to take control and set up the nazi regime during the 1930’s. Other evidence indicates that that having this article in the constitution was not such a bad idea because as long as it was used in the way it was supposed to i.e. in time of crisis such as when Erbert’s government was under threat from the Spartacists. The reason Hitler was able to get away with bypassing the government was because large number of the population didn’t support government or democratic methods therefore Hitler came up against no real opposition when he became chancellor.
In most modern democracies referendums can be used to get the publics view on a proposition by vote i.e. whether Great Britain should join the euro or keep the pound. Although referendums are possible they are rarely used in today’s society. In the Weimar constitution it was possible for referendums to be used for certain circumstances much like today. This it self was not a problem, it was the way they were used by extremist groups such as the nazis to gain influence and present their views to the general population. This in turn gave extremist groups more seats in local parliaments and so increased the destabilisation and drew voters away from the parties that supported democracy. Despite this referendums were rarely used and so cannot be thought of as being a major reason behind the downfall of the republic. Having the option to use referendums in the republic can’t be seen as a weakness in the constitution because they are still used today and even during the Weimar period referendums were rarely used.
Culture was the biggest problem facing the new republic as the old Germany had been based on authoritarian aspects the German people had great trouble adapting to the new democratic ideals, although some Germans tried to become more liberal and embrace the new ideas most Germans were still predominantly conservative in their views. This made the reforms that Erbert tried to put in place very difficult to enforce and is also the reason that many of the old services like the army and the judiciary stayed conservative and right wing in their views. By the beginning of the 1930’s a very large majority of the public had become disillusioned about the benefits of democracy especially after the repeated failings of each government and the economic problems, which came with it. Some people also so believed that the democratic government was just filling a space between the old Second Reich until a new form of dictatorship (in Hitler’s case) or the monarchy was reinstated. This meant that many people never really believed in the new government an so it had little chance of success especially when the people who were trying to disrupt it, mainly the extreme left and right, were treated very leniently by the courts.
There were also a number of other factors, which contributed to the problems in Germany around this period. The constitution was not the main problem; the extreme right and left used loopholes in the constitution to gain support and destabilise the government. The biggest example of this was that Hitler was able to use article 48 to take control of Germany and install himself at the head of a dictatorship. Economic problems were also a big factor as each successive government was more worried about keeping the people happy rather than making the changes necessary to sure up the economy. Increased inflation over the years did nothing to reinstate the people’s faith in democracy.
The main reason the constitution failed was not because the document itself was flawed but because the German people were not ready or prepared to make such a sudden change from autocracy to democracy. Other reasons were that people like Hitler were able to take advantages of loopholes such as article 48, but this again wasn’t the fault of the constitution more the people who had put Hitler in the position of chancellor. The constitution was not truly flawed because it is likely that the same constitution would have worked well under different circumstances, but the other factors involved in Germany at this time made it impossible for it to operate successfully.