Reflections on contentious democracy. The history, meaning and relevance of a leading German concept

Alexander Gallus traces the genesis of "militant democracy" in the history of ideas and constitutional history – from the crisis experiences of the Weimar Republic to the exile debates of the 1930s and 1940s to its institutional anchoring in the Basic Law. At the centre is the question of how democracies can fend off their enemies without damaging their own liberal foundations. Key players such as Karl Loewenstein, Wilhelm Hoegner, Thomas Mann and Karl Mannheim are used to show that defensive democracy was the result of a political learning process. The article combines a reconstruction of the history of ideas with current issues and discusses the difficult balance between popular sovereignty, constitutional protection and democratic openness against the backdrop of the debates on banning the AfD.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Faculty of Education, we cordially invite all interested parties to attend.

Florian von Rosenberg, Tilmann Betsch, Matthias Vonken, Johannes Bauer & Thomas Mikhail