WEIMAR COALITION
Publié le 22/02/2012
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WEIMAR COALITION; a parliamentary alliance comprising the SPD, the
DDP, and the Center Party.* It originated in July 1917 when an interparty
Reichstag* committee of the SPD, the Center, and the Progressive Party (precursor
to the DDP) was created to draft a peace resolution and constitutional
reforms. The coalition became a governing alliance when Philipp Scheidemann*
formed the Republic's first cabinet in February 1919. Representing three-fourths
of the National Assembly,* Scheidemann's cabinet united on the following issues:
international disarmament; compulsory arbitration of disputes; educational
opportunities for all Germans; creation of a democratic army; freedom of speech
and the press; and freedom of religion and the arts. The partners struggled over
socialization.
At the national (Reich) level, the coalition's viability deteriorated in the wake
of the Versailles Treaty* and the Kapp* Putsch. Preserved under Gustav Bauer*
and Hermann Mu¨ller,* the coalition lost its majority in the Reichstag elections
of June 1920. Thereafter a key element of stability was missing because cabinet
creation was complicated by the need either to embrace parties whose opinion
of the Republic was ambivalent or to form minority cabinets. After June 1920
only four of Weimar's cabinets (two under Joseph Wirth* and the two Great
Coalition* cabinets) included representatives from each of the coalition partners.
Politics in the state of Prussia* stood in stark and meaningful contrast to those
at the Reich level. A Weimar Coalition (or a Great Coalition) governed Prussia
under an SPD Prime Minister (Otto Braun* from 1920) from March 1919 until
July 1932 (with brief interruptions in 1921 and 1925). Prussia's experience
illustrated that consistent and clearly defined policies could lead to parliamentary
success—and success at the polls. It also proved that coalition stability had less
to do with a party's platform, which invariably changed, than with the pragmatism
of individual ministers. Gustav Stolper* remarked in 1929 that what
‘‘we have today is a coalition of ministers, not a coalition of parties'' (Kolb).
In fact, from 1920 the coalition parties either feared cabinet responsibility (the
SPD) or grew increasingly unreliable in their attitude toward the Republic (both
the Center and the DDP).
Liens utiles
- CHARLOTTE A WEIMAR (résumé & analyse)
- Zeiss Carl, 1816-1888, né à Weimar, opticien allemand, magnat de l'industrie.
- Weimar.
- Weimar (République de).
- Saxe-Weimar ( Bernard, duc de), 1604-1639, né à Weimar, général allemand.