Editing Weimar Republic (section)

===Institutional problems===
It is widely believed that the [[Weimar Constitution|1919 constitution]] had several weaknesses, making the eventual establishment of a dictatorship likely, but it is impossible to know whether a different constitution could have prevented the rise of the Nazi party.<ref name="Ziblatt-2017"/> The 1949 West German constitution (the [[Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany]]) is generally viewed as a strong response to these flaws.
* The Weimar presidency was frequently considered an ''Ersatzkaiser'' ("substitute emperor"), an attempt to replace the emperors with a similarly strong institution meant to diminish party politics. [[Article 48 (Weimar Constitution)|Article 48]] of the Constitution gave the president power to "take all necessary steps" if "public order and security are seriously disturbed or endangered". Although it was intended as an emergency clause, it was often used before 1933 to issue decrees without the support of Parliament and also made Hitler's ''[[Gleichschaltung]]'' easier.
* During the Weimar Republic, it was accepted that a law did not have to conform to the constitution as long as it had the support of two-thirds of Parliament, the same majority needed to change the constitution. That was a precedent for the [[Enabling Act of 1933]]. The Basic Law of 1949 requires an explicit change of the wording, and it prohibits abolishing the basic rights or the federal structure of the republic.
* The use of a [[proportional representation]] without large [[election threshold|thresholds]] meant a party with a small amount of support could gain entry into the Reichstag. That led to many small parties, some extremist, building political bases within the system, and made it difficult to form and maintain a stable [[coalition government]], further contributing to instability. To counter the problem, the modern German Bundestag introduced a 5% threshold limit for a party to gain parliamentary representation. However, the Reichstag of the monarchy was fractioned to a similar degree even if it was elected by [[majoritarian system|majority vote]] (under a [[two-round system]]).
* The Reichstag could remove the chancellor from office even if it was unable to agree on a successor. With the Reichstag increasingly fractured, President Hindenburg rather than the Reichstag chose the Republic's last four chancellors (Brüning, Papen, Schleicher and Hitler). They all governed by presidential decree. The 1949 Basic Law stipulates that a chancellor may not be removed by Parliament unless a successor is elected at the same time, a procedure known as a "[[constructive vote of no confidence]]".
* The fundamental rights of ''[[habeas corpus]]'', sanctity of the home, inviolability of the mail, [[freedom of speech]] and the [[Freedom of the press|press]], [[freedom of assembly]], [[freedom of association]] (including religious associations) and the inviolability of property – Articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124 and 153 of the Weimar Constitution – could be suspended under Article 48.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thompson |first=Carol |date=June 1944 |title=Weimar in Retrospect |journal=Current History |volume=6 |issue=34 |pages=499|doi=10.1525/curh.1944.6.34.497 }}</ref> The [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany|Basic Law]] lists them as basic rights that cannot legally be nullified and in Article 20 (4) includes the [[right to resist]] attempts to abolish the constitutional order.<ref>{{Cite wikisource|title=Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (2010)}}</ref>