Facts : 1 Institutional problems It is widely believed that the 1919 constitution had several weaknesses, making the eventual establishment of a dictatorship likely but it is unknown whether a different constitution could have prevented the Third Reich
Facts : 2 However, the 1949 West German constitution (the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz) is generally viewed as a strong response to these flaws
Facts : 3 Article 48 of the Constitution gave the President power to take all necessary steps if public order and security are seriously disturbed or endangered
Facts : 4 Although this was intended as an emergency clause, it was often used before 1933 to issue decrees without the support of Parliament (see above) and also made Gleichschaltung easier
Facts : 5 During the Weimar Republic, it was accepted that a law did not have to conform to the constitution as long as it had the support of two-thirds of parliament, the same majority needed to change the constitution (verfassungsdurchbrechende Gesetze)
Facts : 6 The Basic Law of 1949 requires an explicit change of the wording, and it prohibits abolishing the basic rights or the federal structure of the republic
Facts : 7 The use of a proportional representation without thresholds meant any party with a small amount of support could gain entry into the Reichstag
Facts : 8 This led to many small parties, some extremist, building political bases within the system
Facts : 9 To counter this problem, the modern German Bundestag introduced a 5 %%% threshold limit for a party to gain parliamentary representation
Facts : 10 However, the Reichstag of the monarchy was fractioned to a similar degree, even though elected by majority vote (under a two-round system)
Facts : 11 The republic did not fall due to the small parties, but to the strength of the communists, conservatives and ultimately the national socialists
Facts : 12 The Reichstag could remove the Reichskanzler from office even if it was unable to agree on a successor
Facts : 13 The use of such a motion of no confidence meant, since 1932, that a government could not be held in office when the parliament came together
Facts : 14 As a result, the 1949 Grundgesetz stipulates that a chancellor may only be voted down by Parliament if a successor is elected at the same time
Facts : 15 The political parties started to have a role in creating a government only in October 1918