Conservatism in Germany

Conservatism in Germany(German:Konservatismus) has encompassed a wide range of theories and ideologies in the last three hundred years, but most historicalconservativetheories supported themonarchical/hierarchicalpolitical structure.

Historical conservative strains[edit]

During the pre-revolutionaryVormärzera, the label conservatism united a loose movement of intellectual and political forces without any party organisation comparable to the BritishTories.The tradition of conservative theorists likeJustus Möser(1720–1794) opposedthe Enlightenmenttendencies and the ideals of theFrench Revolution.^[1]

While many of the conservative theorists are labelled "political Romantics" (most notably byCarl Schmitt,himself a conservative), at least four strains are distinguishable before 1945:

Status quo anteRomantic conservatives,who wanted to restore the medieval as it was prior to the French Revolution. Notable theorists areNovalis,Friedrich Schelling,Karl Ludwig von HallerandAdam Müller.
Conservative Journalism defends thestatus quoofMetternichs System(the Restoration) andnational conservatism.Notable theorists includeFriedrich von Gentz,Friedrich SchlegelandErnst Moritz Arndt.
Conservative writing in defense of the (constitutional)monarchy in Germanyincluded theoristsGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum SteinandFriedrich Julius Stahl.
Theconservative revolutionary movementand pre-Nazi radicals, such asArthur Moeller van den Bruck,Oswald Spengler(addingpessimismandcultural conservatism) andCarl Schmitt.

Also included are theanti-Enlightenment RomanticismofFriedrich Nietzsche,the conservativeRealpolitikandstatecraftofOtto von Bismarckand the anti-republicanmonarchismof theGerman National People's Party(DNVP) during theWeimar Republic.

Otto von Bismarck[edit]

Conservative thought developed alongsidenationalism in Germany,culminating in Germany's victory over France in theFranco-Prussian War,the creation of the unifiedGerman Empirein 1871 and the simultaneous rise to power of ChancellorOtto von Bismarck.Bismarck's "balance of power" foreign policy model maintained peace in Europe for decades at the end of the 19th century. His "revolutionary conservatism" was a conservative state-building strategy designed to make ordinary Germans—not just his own Junker elite—more loyal to state and emperor. He created the modern welfare state in Germany in the 1880s. According toKees van Kersbergenand Barbara Vis, his strategy was "granting social rights to enhance the integration of a hierarchical society, to forge a bond between workers and the state so as to strengthen the latter, to maintain traditional relations of authority between social and status groups, and to provide a countervailing power against the modernist forces of liberalism and socialism".^[2]

Bismarck also enacteduniversal male suffragein the new German Empire in 1871.^[3]He became a great hero to German conservatives, who erected many monuments to his memory after he left office in 1890.^[4]

After theRevolutions of 1848,conservative parties were represented in severalLandtagassemblies of theGerman states,particularly in thePrussian Landtag,from 1871 onwards also in theReichstagparliament of the German Empire. The Prussian conservatives, mainlyEast Elbianlandowners (Junker), who had been sceptical towards theUnification of Germanypromoted byMinister PresidentBismarck, re-organised themselves within theGerman Conservative Party.In the Reichstag, they had to face the rivalry of theFree Conservativesecession, which comprised bureaucratic elite leaders as well asRhenishbusinessmagnates,who had supported Bismarck's politics from the beginning.

During Bismarck's time in office, German conservatives more and more turned tostatismandpaternalismin the rising conflict betweeneconomic liberalismas promoted by theNational Liberalsand thelabour movementrepresented by theSocial Democratic Party.They supported the Chancellor'sAnti-Socialist Laws,but also strongly embraced the implementation of asocial insurance(pensions, accident insurance and medical care) that laid the ground for the Germanwelfare state.Likewise, conservative politicians appreciated the enforcement of what they callednational interestsduring theKulturkampfagainst theCatholic Churchand theCentre Party.Though Bismarck's domestic policies did not prevail against his opponents, they further strengthened the power of the state.

At the same time, the influence of the parliament on those policy guidelines remained limited.Universal suffrage(for men) had been implemented already in the 1867Reichstagelection of theNorth German Confederation,but the MPs had fewlegislativepowers. The German government remained responsible only to theEmperorand theChancellorused to rule by alternating majorities. Not until the late days ofWorld War Iaparliamentaryreform was carried out, instigated by theOberste Heeresleitung(Supreme Army Command) in view of the German defeat. Biased by particular interests and reserved towards political parties espousing an ideology or vision in general, German conservatives up to then had not been able to install abig tentin the sense of a people's party.

Weimar Republic and Nazi oppression[edit]

Conservatism in Germany was shaken by the lost World War I and theGerman Revolution of 1918–1919.The thinkers of the conservative revolution, a reaction to the lapse of the once venerated monarchical tradition, strived for an inventive realignment (new world order) based on continuous principles while in the late 1920s theDNVPunder press baronAlfred Hugenbergturned towards far-right nationalist policies, culminating in the co-operation with theNazi Partyon the eve of theMachtergreifungin 1933. Several conservative politicians like Hugenberg himself,Franz von PapenandKonstantin von Neurathbecame members of theHitler Cabinetand some likeFranz Seldteeven joined the NSDAP.

During the period ofNazi rule,all other political parties, including conservative, were outlawed. The "national revolution" of theNazishad priority and theracistand social changes in German society were not allowed to be stopped by the conservative forces of "reaction" (Reaktion,see "Horst-Wessel-Lied"), like for instance the Catholic, Christian-democraticZentrumand thePrussian monarchists.Several conservative opponents of the Nazi regime like former ChancellorKurt von SchleicherorEdgar Julius Jungwere murdered during theNight of the Long Knivesin 1934. After a period of pacification in the Third Reich, notable conservatives were involved in theGerman Resistance,most notably in the20 July plot.

Modern conservatism[edit]

AfterWorld War II,conservatism in Germany had to deal with the experience oftotalitarianismand its own involvement. Its protagonists finally adopted the ideals of aliberalconstitutional (Rechtsstaat)democracyand in turn eliminated themselves as a separate political power.

In modernGermany,the post-warChristian Democratic Union(CDU) along with theChristian Social Union in Bavaria(CSU) claim to represent all forms of conservatism in Germany.National conservativenew establishments like theGerman Partydid not last while up to today there remain some marginal parties to the right of the CDU and CSU, difficult to distinguish from thefar-right-parties, e.g.The Republicans.There also exist marginal movements to restore the German monarchy, most notablyTradition und Leben.During theGerman student movementof the late 1960s, CDU/CSU politicians called for a "strong state" and the restriction ofindividual rightsin order to put down the disturbances.

Notable modern ( "technocratic") conservative theorists includedErnst Jünger(1895–1998) and his brotherFriedrich Georg Jünger(1898–1977),Hans Freyer(1887–1969),Helmut Schelsky(1912–1984) andArnold Gehlen(1904–1976). They stressed the subjection of political decisions to the circumstances determined by atechnologicallyadvanced civilisation, denying ideological claims to overcomesocial alienation,which would remain an illusion only advocated bydemagogues.

Recent developments[edit]

Like most political parties in Germany, the CDU and the CSU to a lesser extent has turned tocentristpolicies afterGerman reunification.This has led to an emphasis oneconomic liberalismandsocial justice(in the tradition ofCatholic social teaching) compared to firm conservative positions. However, the party's claimed conservative feature remains a non-defined iridescent term, oscillating betweennationalandsocialmanifestation.

SinceWest GermanyChancellorHelmut Kohlformed acoalition governmentof the CDU and the liberalFree Democratic Party(FDP) in 1982, both parties have often been frequently referred to as belonging to a largercentre-right(bürgerlich,"civic" ) faction within theGerman party system.However, this distinction has been criticised for neglecting not onlysocial liberaltrends, but also conservative tendencies withincentre-leftparties like theSocial DemocratsorThe Greens.

Notes[edit]

^James N. Retallack (2006).The German Right, 1860–1920: Political Limits of the Authoritarian Imagination.University of Toronto Press.
^Kersbergen, Kees van; Vis, Barbara (2013).Comparative Welfare State Politics: Development, Opportunities, and Reform.Cambridge UP. p. 38.
^Moore, Robert Laurence; Vaudagna, Maurizio (2003).The American Century in Europe.Cornell University Press. p. 226.
^Richard E. Frankel, "From the Beer Halls to the Halls of Power: The Cult of Bismarck and the Legitimization of a New German Right, 1898–1945,"German Studies Review,Vol. 26, No. 3 (Oct., 2003), pp. 543–560in JSTOR

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