Volksgesetzgebung in Deutschland: Der wissenschaftliche Umgang mit plebiszitärer Gesetzgebung auf Reichs- und Bundesebene in Weimarer Republik, Drittem Reich und Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1919–2002)

This book examines the ways in which the idea of a legislation by referendum was discussed in Germany by academic critics from 1919 up to 2002. Starting with the juridical and political debates about »Volksbegehren« and »Volksentscheid« in the constitution of Weimar, it investigates the academic perspectives on the legislative »Volksabstimmungen« during the Third Reich. Special Attention is then given to the controversies surrounding the so called »experience of Weimar« regarding referenda, which dominates the juridical, political and historiographic struggle over a reintroduction of a legislative referendum in the »Grundgesetz« of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland since 1945.In addition to this historical survey of academic criticism, the book offers an analysis of the various »Volksbegehren«, »Volksentscheide« and legislative »Volksabstimmungen« which have taken place in Germany between 1919 and 1945. In so doing, it takes into account the steps which have been made towards integrating a federal referendum into Germany's political systems before and after 1945. As a result of its complementary approach the book not only enables the reader to follow the changes and continuities in the academic discourse. It also reveals in an exemplary fashion the mutual interdependance of the academic discourse and the political zeitgeist during the different periods of German history.