Germany's political system - built on lessons from the past

Germany's political system - built on lessons from the pastBerlin - As Germany enters its worst recession in post-war history, the country's 60th birthday celebrations will throw a stark light on the economic turmoil and political frailty that helped bring Hitler to power.

A dramatic plunge in Germany's export-oriented economy and a predicted rise in unemployment have prompted comparisons with the economic meltdown after 1929, which created the conditions in which Nazi ideology flourished.

A recent Spiegel magazine front page was even prompted to ponder: "Is history repeating itself?"

A German trade union leader created a stir last month when he warned that high unemployment could cause "social unrest" - and pointed to the "known consequences" of the 1930s.

Back then the fractious parties of the Weimar Republic had been unable to form stable majorities, and then failed to unite to prevent Hitler's rise to power.

But Oskar Niedermayer, politics professor at Berlin's Free University, says - despite the economic parallels - 2009 will not be a repeat of 1929.

The political scientist believes German democracy is now mature enough to endure the current crisis.

"The economic miracle after the war helped to strengthen the democratic orientation of the people," Niedermayer says, pointing to the country's welfare state, which would prevent a return to the mass destitution of the 1930s.

The political system established after World War II led to the emergence of two broad-based parties known as Volksparteien - the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and the left-of-centre Social Democrats (SPD).

This pair dominated the centre ground of German politics, placing their appeal on inclusion and focusing on the mainstream electoral base.

This made sense in a political landscape one the one side hemmed in by the experience a far-right dictatorship and World War II, and the on the other by the proximity of the communist-led Eastern bloc, and curtailed the growth of domestic extremist fringe parties.

A legal hurdle demanding 5 per cent of the vote also helped block extremist parties from entering parliament. So far this has prevented the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) from gaining a seat in the German Bundestag - although it came close in the late 1960s.

The conservative CDU established itself as generally pro-Church and pro-business, with a religious identity which meant little more than adhering to socially-conservative values.

The SPD became the party of the trade unions, squeezed to the left as the CDU focused on social responsibility and a commitment to a social market economy, policies considered key to Germany's economic success.

A third party, the Free Democrats (FDP), found their niche by focusing on economic liberalism and civil liberties which appealed largely to upper-middle-class professionals. The FDP developed into the role of king-makers, forging government coalitions with both CDU and SPD.

In 1980 the Greens formed a national party, later copied in other countries. As they moved mainstream, casting aside their more radical environmentalist roots, the party's growth upset the three-party balance.

The Greens found their natural political partners in the SPD, driving the FDP into the pocket of the CDU.

All this was shaken up again when Germany reunified in 1990. Out of the ashes of East Germany's ruling socialist party grew the Left Party, whose credibility rose when the SPD's maverick leader Oskar Lafontaine defected to them and took over at the helm.

Ahead of this year's national election in September, the five main parties are honing their political positioning, and eyeing each other up as potential coalition partners to replace the governing 'grand coalition' of CDU and SPD.

The governing coalition's stewardship of the economy during the financial crisis is coming under scrutiny, as the five main parties present their solutions to the drop in industrial output, rising unemployment and fiscal challenges brought on by the crisis.

Niedermayer believes however that, in contrast to the 1930s, the crisis see a collapse of the social-market economy and constitutional liberal democracy.

"In such a crisis situation people are disinclined to conduct political experiments and are more likely to revert to the tried and tested, where they know what they are dealing with," the professor said.

Niedermayer thinks there is also one very simple reason why modern-day Germany will not fall foul of political extremists.

"We know that the Germans have a rather consensus-oriented understanding of democracy," the professor said. (dpa)