Royal Dictatorships The NS State



Rule by Decree



During the GREAT DEPRESSION, many democratic parliaments, the membership split in many, partially hostile factions, were at an impasse; it was almost impossible to find parliamentary majorities for decisions - and tough (thus unpopular) decisions had to be made.
German chancellor HEINRICH BRÜNING was the first to find a way out of the dilemma, by using an instrument provided by the constitution for the case of an emergency - RULE BY DECREE, without the consultation of parliament (1930). In effect, the country became a dictatorship; parliament continued to convene, to hold debates, but it was powerless.
This strategy soon was followed by the prime ministers/chancellors of other countries, such as AUSTRIA, ESTONIA, LATVIA. The politicians who switched from rule through parliament to rule by decree did so to ensure the country having a government capable to act. They undertook steps to preserve law and order; Austria's chancellor-dictator ENGELBERT DOLLFUSS, for instance, outlawed the Austrian Nazi Party as well as various militias. Except in the case of Germany's Heinrich Bruening, these politicians enjoyed considerable support, as many understood the necessity of rule by decree.
Most parliamentary-democracies-turned-dictatorships-ruled-by-decree had in common mistrust of the social democratic parties and their militias, a mistrust not without legitimation as not few among the social democrats not too long ago had advocated the revolution. In most other aspects the countries were parliamentary democracies in which the ruling chancellor/prime minister ruled without consulting parliament (exception : Estonia, Latvia).



Germany 1929-1932 Austria 1933-1938 Estonia 1934-1939 Latvia 1934-1939




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This page is part of World History at KMLA
Last revised on February 20th 2002

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