德國威瑪共和的憲法：一個半總統制的個案研究

The Constitution of Weimar Republic: A Case Study of Semi-presidentialism

沈有忠(Yu-Chung Shen)

《東吳政治學報》 24期 (2006/12) Pp. 163-212

https://doi.org/10.6418/SJPS.200612.0163

摘要

德國於1919年建立的威瑪共和是德國史上首度的社會民主嘗試，威瑪憲法更被譽為當時極為進步與完備的憲法。然而，這部憲法在形式上卻只運作了短暫的14年，最後更以希特勒的納粹獨裁告終。也因為如此，這部憲法成為當代憲政史上重要的一部憲法，在德國不僅影響後來波昂基本法的設計，也備受學界的關注與討論。這部憲法在憲政架構上的特殊之處在於，他兼具了總統制與議會內閣制的特徵，同時存在一個直選而具有實權的總統，也存在一個獨立而向國會負責的內閣。這樣的憲政體制也就是後來所謂的「半總統制」。本文討論威瑪如何在當時的環境下設計出這樣的一套憲法，並討論這部憲法實際的運作情況，以及最後失敗的原因。這部憲法不僅對德國有著重要意義，也對當代許多採用半總統制的新興民主國家具有啟發的意義。

關鍵字

威瑪憲法 ； 半總統制 ； 總統制 ； 議會內閣制

並列摘要

The Weimar Republic, which emerged in 1919, was the first social democracy in the history of Germany, and its Constitution was considered very progressive for the time. However, it was only practices for 14 years, ending by replacement by Hitler's Nazi regime. As a result, the Weimar Constitution occupies a special place in the history of constitutionalism. It not only had a major influence on the later development of the Basic Law in Germany, but has also been studied around the world. A special feature of the Weimar constitutional framework was the existence of the ”semi-presidential government,” integrating both parliamentarism and presidentialism. It established both a directly elected president with effective power as well as an independent cabinet responsible to parliament.
This paper explores the reasons why such a constitution was adopted in Germany at that time, how it worked in practice, as well as the reasons for its eventual failure. The significance of the lessons of Weimar has gained in importance over the past decade, because many newly emerging democracies, especially in the Central and Eastern Europe and the former USSR, have also adopted semi-presidential systems.

並列關鍵字

Weimar Republic ； semi-presidentialism ； presidentialism ； parliamentarism

參考文獻

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