German political culture

• 1919 - German's were conservative and unsympathetic to democracy.
• Democracy was widely praised in the West after 1945, in the period 1919-1939 it was often viewed with suspicion across Europe.
• Reasons people were concerned with democracy:

  1. It gave power to uneducated people who had little understanding of gov
  2. it gave power to poor people who had an interest in taking away power and wealth of the rich
  3. based on discussions and elections - it was weak and indecisive compared with traditional forms of gov or modern dictatorship, for example, Italy.
• Concerns about democracy were not confined to Germany. All around Europe