The Making of a German Constitution: A Slow Revolution

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It is impossible to comprehend the political development of England, the United States or France without considering English common law, the US Constitution or the Code Napoleon, respectively. Why then has legalism been so long neglected in the study of German politics Drawing on constitutional and legal history, this book reconsiders the creation of the German state and the nature of the 'bourgeois revolution'. The author re-reads the critical time period of 1814-1930 to demonstrate the links between the legal code and political evolution. She also focuses on the changing character of gender relations to further understand social and political change. The author argues that German liberals conceived and perceived that the ends of revolution could be achieved legislatively, thus Germany was able to attain a modern political and social system while avoiding-or at least delaying-violent movements. Examining the progressive and regressive elements within German liberalism, Crosby provides a much-needed republican synthesis of German political development through time. The Making of the German Constitution offers a new interpretation of German political and constitutional history through its reading of a slow, bourgeois revolution.

Reviews

'Reconnecting the socio-political history of modern Germany with legal history, Crosby offers an extraordinarily perceptive and methodologically innovative analysis of the covert constitutional transformation that was tantamount to the Kaiserreich's 'bourgeois revolution'.' V.R. Berghahn, Columbia University 'This book combines German constitutional and social history with legal history of the 19th century up to the German codification of civil law (1896/1900). The viewpoints are original and the book includes the socialist criticism of the codification in favour of women. A new and not yet sufficiently discussed perspective.' Michael Stolleis, Max-Planck-Institut fur europaische Rechtsgeschichte

Author Bio

Margaret Barber Crosby is Associate Professor of Modern European History, Department of History, Howard University.