Political Corruption in Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany is one of the great success stories of the post-war period. It is the first liberal democracy on German soil — a Rechtsstaat in which the rule of law is paramount. In sharp contrast to previous German regimes, the Federal Republic is characterized by stable governments, a strong economy, a commitment to European integration, and a preference for multi-national solutions to crises in foreign policy. Faced with lingering memories of the ill-fated Weimar Republic and the Nazi regime that followed, for several decades, leading politicians in the new Federal Republic, were determined to prove that democracy was safe in German hands. However, fears persisted that the (West) Germans were merely ‘fair-weather democrats’ who supported the system for pragmatic reasons rather than through conviction. This concern was revived during the early 1990s in the wake of German reunification, encouraged by an increase in right-wing extremism, and by a reunited Germany’s increased size and influence on the international stage. Even the transfer of the German government from Bonn to Berlin in 1999 caused a revival of the old questions about the nature of the German state and the foreign policy ambitions of the Germans because Berlin had been the capital during the less palatable phases of recent German history. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.