Synopses & Reviews
Wilhelm Hennis has been a leading critic of German political life and thought for the last fifty years. In this selection from his writings on government, constitutionality, and legitimacy he shows how the postwar reconstruction of democratic politics in Germany quickly highlighted general problems of party politics and democratic order that have only recently been widely recognized. In so doing he eschews the conventional terminology of the social sciences, and builds his analysis of modern politics on a classical language of law and politics.
Synopsis
In this selection from his writings on government, constitutionality, and legitimacy Wilhelm Hennis shows how the postwar reconstruction of democratic politics in Germany quickly highlighted general problems of party politics and democratic order that have only recently been widely recognized.
About the Author
WILHELM HENNIS is Professor Emeritus at Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Duncan Kelly * The Problem of the German Conception of the State * The Idea of Office and the Conception of Democracy * Legitimacy * Democratization: Concept and Problematic Constitutionality and Constitutional Reality * Party Structure and Governability * Integration by Constitution * Toqueville's "New Political Science" * Goya and the Project of Modernity