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Conservatism in Germany (German:Konservatismus) has encompassed a wide range of theories and ideologies in the last three hundred years, but most historicalconservative theories supported themonarchical/hierarchical political structure.
During the pre-revolutionaryVormärz era, 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 Enlightenment tendencies 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:
Also included are theanti-EnlightenmentRomanticism ofFriedrich Nietzsche, the conservativeRealpolitik andstatecraft ofOtto von Bismarck and the anti-republicanmonarchism of theGerman National People's Party (DNVP) during theWeimar Republic.
Conservative thought developed alongsidenationalism in Germany, culminating in Germany's victory over France in theFranco-Prussian War, the creation of the unifiedGerman Empire in 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 Kersbergen andBarbara 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 suffrage in 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 severalLandtag assemblies of theGerman states, particularly in thePrussian Landtag, from 1871 onwards also in theReichstag parliament of the German Empire. The Prussian conservatives, mainlyEast Elbian landowners (Junker), who had been sceptical towards theUnification of Germany promoted byMinister President Bismarck, re-organised themselves within theGerman Conservative Party. In the Reichstag, they had to face the rivalry of theFree Conservative secession, which comprised bureaucratic elite leaders as well asRhenish businessmagnates, who had supported Bismarck's politics from the beginning.
During Bismarck's time in office, German conservatives more and more turned tostatism andpaternalism in the rising conflict betweeneconomic liberalism as promoted by theNational Liberals and thelabour movement represented 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 interests during theKulturkampf against theCatholic Church and 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 1867Reichstag election of theNorth German Confederation, but the MPs had fewlegislative powers. The German government remained responsible only to theEmperor and theChancellor used to rule by alternating majorities. Not until the late days ofWorld War I aparliamentary reform 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 tent in the sense of a people's party.
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 theDNVP under press baronAlfred Hugenberg turned towards far-right nationalist policies, culminating in the co-operation with theNazi Party on the eve of theMachtergreifung in 1933. Several conservative politicians like Hugenberg himself,Franz von Papen andKonstantin von Neurath became members of theHitler Cabinet and some likeFranz Seldte even joined the NSDAP.
During the period ofNazi rule, all other political parties, including conservative, were outlawed. The "national revolution" of theNazis had priority and theracist and 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-democraticZentrum and thePrussianmonarchists. Several conservative opponents of the Nazi regime like former ChancellorKurt von Schleicher orEdgar Julius Jung were murdered during theNight of the Long Knives in 1934. After a period of pacification in the Third Reich, notable conservatives were involved in theGerman Resistance, most notably in the20 July plot.
AfterWorld War II, conservatism in Germany had to deal with the experience oftotalitarianism and its own involvement. Its protagonists finally adopted the ideals of aliberal constitutional (Rechtsstaat)democracy and 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 conservative new establishments like theGerman Party did 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 movement of the late 1960s, CDU/CSU politicians called for a "strong state" and the restriction ofindividual rights in 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 atechnologically advanced civilisation, denying ideological claims to overcomesocial alienation, which would remain an illusion only advocated bydemagogues.
Like most political parties in Germany, the CDU and the CSU to a lesser extent has turned tocentrist policies afterGerman reunification. This has led to an emphasis oneconomic liberalism andsocial 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 betweennational andsocial manifestation.
SinceWest Germany ChancellorHelmut Kohl formed acoalition government of 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 liberal trends, but also conservative tendencies withincentre-left parties like theSocial Democrats orThe Greens.
