Weimar Weaknesses

• What were the weakness of the Weimar Constitution?

  • Weak coalitions were the only way to gain power
  • Strong states (like Prussia) held power through the Reichstrat
  • Article 48 allowed the President to bypass democracy
  • Proportional representation
• What is proportional representation

  • Each party got the same percentage of seats in parliament as the percentage of votes it received in an election
  • This meant there were lots of small parties in Parliament making it difficult to pass laws and led to weak and often short-lived governments
  • 421 seats