Parties and Rules. Constitution-making in the East German Länder after 1990
Parties and Rules. Constitution-making in the East German Länder after 1990

Summary/Abstract: The article investigates how the varying party constellation in the founding parliament influenced constitution-making in the East German federal states after 1990. All other context conditions of constitution-making were almost identical. The study observes that weak governing parties accepted the opposition’s wish for an early legal obligation to adopt the constitution by a qualified majority because they needed political support. However, they tended to re-interpret or circumvent the provisions in face of stalemates. Stronger governing parties avoided constitution-making rules but involved other parties to increase legitimation at a low cost. Opposition parties accepted governments’ offers and withdrew some procedure-related demands in exchange for substantive gains, e.g. constitutionally entrenched social rights. In sum, the party constellation in parliament determined the formal procedure of constitution-making and deviances from it.

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