Trokhymenko Oleksandra

Development of the Institution of Presidency in Germany

Abstract: The article is dedicated to the Presidentship as a part of the state authorities of Germany. The author retraced the development of the presidential authority at different stages of the statehood of Germany. Main attention is paid to the comparative study of the president’s authority by the constitution of the Weimar Republic and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.The constitution of the Weimar Republic functioned from the 1919 and – with some modernization – till 1945. Reichspräsident of the Weimar Republic could have a strong influence on domestic politics. He formed the executive branch and had legislative authority during a state of emergency. In addition, Reichspräsident of the Weimar Republic could abolish main rights and freedoms of citizens. Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg had used such a wide powers to make the German state function during the years of Great Depression. Same powers were been used by Adolf Hitler to set his dictatorship after 1934.After the World War II the authority of the President of Germany were reduced according to the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany of 1949, which functions till today. Bundespräsident keeps representational functions of the state in foreign affairs as well as status of commander in chief of armed forces. In compare with Reichspräsident, Bundespräsident is not able to form the executive branch or to abolish the rights and freedoms of citizens. Moreover, the election process has been changed and now Bundespräsident is elected by the Federal Convention, while the Reichspräsident had being elected by universal suffrage. As the author concludes, such measures were taken to avoid electing a populist or demagogue to the presidentship.

Keywords: President, Federal President, Presidentship, Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, Reichspräsident, Weimar Republic.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/np.52.227     Citation

• Trokhymenko Oleksandra (V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, Ukraine, Kyiv)

Cite:
Trokhymenko Oleksandra (2019). Development of the Institution of Presidency in Germany. Academic Papers of The Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, (52) 227-239. (In Ukrainan). doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/np.52.227

References:

1. Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. (1949). [in Deutsch].
2. Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs. (1919). Wikisource. [in Deutsch].
3. Vinkler, G. A. (2013). Veimar 1918–1933: istoriya pervoj nemeckoj demokratii [Weimar of 1918–1933: the History of the First German Democracy]. Moscow: Rosspen [in Russian].
4. Grigonis, E. P., Grigonis, V. P. (2002). Konstitutcionnoe pravo zarubezhnykh stran. Kurs lektcii [The Constitutional Laws of Foreign Countries]. Saint Petersburg [in Russian].
5. Maklakov, V. V. (2006). Konstituciya Germanii. Konstitutciia Germanii. Vstupitelnaia statia [Constitution of Germany: Introduction Article]. Konstitutcii zarubezhnykh gosudarstv: Velikobritaniia, Frantciia, Germaniia, Italiia, Evropeiskii Soiuz, Soedinennye Shtaty Ameriki, Iaponiia, Indiia – Constitutions of Foreign Countries: Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, European Union, USA, Japan, India]. (pp. 101–113). Moscow: Volters Kluver [in Russian].
6. Marchenko, M. N. (1994). Stanovlenie i razvitie gosudarstvennogo mekhanizma Germanii 30-kh godov [Origins and Developments of the State Machine of Germany of 1930’s]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 11 Pravo – Bulletin of Moscow University. Series 11: Right, no. 6, pp. 3–13 [in Russian].
7. Menligazieva, A. E. (1999). Nekotorye voprosy stanovleniia i razvitiia instituta prezidentstva [Some Issues of the Origins and Development of the Presidency]. Izvestiya Ministerstva obrazovaniya i nauki Respubliki Kazaxstan – Proceedings of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Social Sciences Series, no. 4 (222), pp. 54–59 [in Russian].
8. Mudrak, I. D. (2002). Istoriia derzhavy i prava zarubizhnykh krain: kurs lektsii [History of the States and Law of Foreign Countries: A Coursebook]. Irpin: Academia DPS Ukrainy [in Ukrainian].
9. Nevinskii, V. V. (2001). Germaniia. Federativnaia Respublika Germaniia. Vvodnaia statia [Germany. Federal Republic of Germany: Introduction]. Okunkova, L. A. (Ed.). Konstitutcii gosudarstv Evropy – Constitution of European States. Vol. 1, pp. 567–579. Moscow: NORMA [in Russian].
10. Pohorilko, V. F. (2002). Orhany derzhavnoi vlady Ukrainy [State Authorities of Ukraine]. Kyiv: V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law [in Ukrainian].
11. Pidruchna, O. O. (2014). Formuvannia instytutu prezydentstva v politychnomu prostori Ukrainy [The Development of Presidency in the Political Space of Ukraine]. Aktualni problemy polityky – Actual problems of politics, issue 52, pp. 260–268 [in Ukrainian].
12. Barikov, V. S., Sazonov, N. I. (Ed.). (2005). Sravnitelnaia politika. Osnovnye politicheskie sistemy sovremennogo mira [Comparative Politics. Main Political Systems of the Modern World]. Kharkiv: V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University [in Russian].
13. Trokhymenko, O. O. (2015). Vplyv rozkolu ta obiednannia Nimechchyny na etnonatsionalnu identychnist nimtsiv [The Impact of the Split and Reunification of Germany on the National Identity of the Germans]. Hileia: naukovyi visnyk – Gilea: Scientific Herald, issue 97 (6), pp. 133–138 [in Ukrainian].
14. Shatilo, V. A. (2004). Instytut prezydentstva v systemi derzhavnoi vlady Ukrainy [Presidency in the System of State Authorities of Ukraine]. Kyiv: The Ukrainian Center of Political Management [in Ukrainian].
15. Shyrer, U. (2015). Vzlet i padenie Tretego reikha [The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich]. Moscow: AST [in Russian].
16. Shlaix, K. (1994). Federalnyi prezident [Federal President]. Gosudarstvennoe pravo Germanii – State Law of Germany. Vol. 1, pp. 216–238. Moscow: The Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences [in Russian].