The Constitution of Germany. The state structure of post-war Germany

After the end of the bloody slaughter of the Second World WarThe western part of Germany, which was the occupation zone of the allies (Great Britain, the USA and France), began to rise from the ruins. This also concerned the state structure of the country, which learned the bitter experience of Nazism. The FRG Constitution, adopted in 1949, approved the parliamentary republic, which was based on the principles of civil liberties, human rights and federalism.

Of great interest is the fact thatinitially this document was adopted as a temporary basic law of the transition period, in effect until the full political unification of the two parts of the state. That was stated in the preamble. But later the FRG constitution of 1949 was recognized as the most successful in German history. After the reunification of Germany, the paragraph on the interim action of this document was deleted from the preamble. Thus, the post-war constitution is still in effect.

The FRG Constitution on the principles of its construction andunder the right standards, it declared, has become an extremely progressive document, which has had a significant impact on the development of a democratic free society in a renovated Germany. Knowingly, in her first nineteen articles, the rights of the citizens of the newly created state and a clear commitment to the principles of democracy are described in the most detailed manner.

By these provisions, the FRG constitutionstrikes out from the history of the German people the dark Nazi past. By providing citizens with ample opportunities to realize their own rights, the basic law at the same time prohibits any actions that pose a potential threat to the democratic order and the foundations of a civilized European society. In 1951, the Federal Republic of Germany introduced a constitutional court. This was another significant step on the complex path of building a democratic society in a country that had only recently experienced the triumphs and fiasco of National Socialism.

Very revealing was the fact that, according toa new constitution, throughout the whole territory of West Germany, not only the activities of various neo-Nazi parties, but also the Communists, were banned. The latter can be regarded as a kind of curtsey towards the victorious allied powers. Also the FRG Constitution of 1949 establishes several predominant principles of democracy: the dominant role of law and order, socially oriented institutions of state power and the federal structure of the country.

At the same time for making any amendments,changes and additions to the basic law, their approval and approval by at least two-thirds of the members of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat was necessarily required. However, some of the fundamental provisions of the constitution could not be changed even in this case. Here, the lessons learned from the Nazis coming to power and the fruits of their activities are clearly affecting them.

The principle of federalism, where the subjects of the stateappear land, is historically traditional for Germany. This form of state structure has passed a difficult path from centralized federalism to the modern model of cooperative federalism, in which each land is an equal participant in state political life, having its own government, constitution and other attributes of statehood. Such a device turned out to be declared in the post-war constitution, which most fully corresponds to the historical traditions of the German people. Now Germany also boasts the most developed labor legislation in Europe.