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1949
5% rule
Constructive votes of no confidence
Weak president, strong chancellor
Banning of Extremist parties
Basic Law
KPD - 1956. Socialist Reich Party - 1952
Extremist parties banned
Adenauer and CDU majority of 1 vote
1949 election
1952 131 Law
Law allowing Nazis into jobs
1953 Equalisation of Burdens Act
Act granting grants and pensions to civilians who had suffered significant losses (particularly of property) as a result of wartime bombing
80% 1949-55
Wage rises beginning of FRG
CDU won 50.2% of the popular vote
1957 election
Wirtschaftswunder
‘Economic miracle’
Social Market Economy
Erhard’s economic policies
Supported nationalisation and prioritised reunification even at the cost of cooperating with the USSR
Issues with SPD in early elections
Bad Godesberg Programme
Abandoned socialist economic policies and adopted social market economy principles.
SPD policy change
Always a coalition partner except 1957-61 and 1966-69.
FDP in government
1949-89 9.6%
FDP average percentage of vote
1955
German sovereignty restored
1957
Treaty of Rome
Average of 8% growth/year between 1950 and 1960
Economic growth
0.7/0.8% 1961-66 and 1970-71
Lowest unemployment
Rose 58% 1953-60, compared with 25% in the UK
Rise in living standards
Hallstein Doctrine - 1955
Declaration of no diplomatic relations with any country with diplomatic relations with the GDR
1950 construction law granted massive subsidies - 4m new homes by 1957
Rebuilding
Collective Bargaining Law - 1949.
Prevented establishment of monopolies
effectively depoliticised the unions
Low wage demands + strike record
Co-dermination
Reason for Adenauer’s low strike record
Wide-ranging and transregional
Appeal of CDU
Anti-Socialist sentiment
Lack of appeal of SPD
Return of German sovereignty in 1955
Joined NATO 1955
New military force of Bundeswehr 1956
Adenauer’s achievements by 1957
CDU won outright majority, 50.2% of the vote, no need for a coalition
1957 election
Oberländer - 1959
Scandal Minister for refugees
13th August 1961. Adenauer focused on electoral campaign.
Building of the Berlin wall
14th August 1961 - Brandt mayor of Berlin, Adenauer said he was unsuitable for high office due to his illegitimacy
Personal attack on Brandt
Loss of outright majority of the CDU. Vote fell to 48%, SPD increased by about 1m votes.
1961 election
Formed coalition with FDP on the condition that Adenauer would resign in favour of Erhard after 2 years.
Adenauer’s response to 1961 election
1962 CDU defence minister did not consult FDP justice minister before acting, tenstions between CDU and FDP
Der Spiegel Affair
15th October 1963
Adenauer’s resignation
1963-66
Erhard as Chancellor
Emergence of National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). Threatened breakthrough at federal level.
Adenauer’s criticisms of Erhard and ill-will
1965 economic recession
Reasons for Erhard’s failure as Chancellor
1965.
Relatively mild, result of overproduction
Inflation 4%/year in 1966
Unemployment 700,000 in 1966
Erhard proposed 10% spending cuts, small rises in interest rates and taxes, as well as a 1 additional hour of work/working week.
FDP disliked the idea of raising taxation
Economic recession under Erhard
November 1966
Erhard’s resignation
1966-9, Kiesinger (CDU). Coalition between SPD and CDU, 11 CDU ministers and 9 SPD. Reversed economic recession, economic growth resumed
Grand Coalition
NPD rising in popularity, Kiesinger refused to ban them from parliament.
Allowed reformation of KPD as DKP in 1968
Kept extremists within constitution, reduced extra-parliamentary opposition
Extremist parties: Kiesinger
Emergency Laws - May 1968. A committee of Bundestag representatives could take emergency measured at times of civil unrest. Symbolic of democratic maturity of the Republic
Act that worried students due to Article 42
Decriminialised homosexuality (1968) and adultery (1969)
Kiesinger’s social policies
Left of FDP wanted Ostpolitik, as did SPD
Reason for collapse of Grand Coalition
CDU strongest individual party (46.1%)
FDP formed coalition with SPD, total of 48.5% of the vote
1969 election
NPD - Failed to make a significant electoral breakthrough
1960s Neo-Nazi party
Overcrowding, poor teaching and right wing bias of teachers
Criticism of expansion of higher education 1960s
End of parliamentary democracy
Criticism of Grand Coalition
Opposition outside parliament - 1960s. Consisted of left wing students, trade unionists and intelectuals
APO
Radical protests through strikes and demonstrations, aiming to make FRG more open, tolerant and free
Hugely idealistic
Motivated by Grand Coalition
1986 extensive campaigning against Emergency Laws
APO main ideas
Members supported Brandt’s left-wing government, some joined newly formed DKP
Decline of APO
1960s.
German Socialist Students Union
Part of APO
Expelled from SPD in 1961 due to opposition to rearmament (which SPD had accepted in Bad Godesberg Programme 1959)
SDS
Rudi Dutschke - shot 1968, died 1979 from related brain injuries
Leader of the SDS
2,500 in 1968
Peak of SDS membership
1967 - student protests of SDS against violent dictator
Visit of the Shah of Iran