Juridification and crisis of the Weimar democracy in the diagonsis of Otto Kirchheimer

Abstract

The concept of juridification is central to Kirchheimer's diagnosis of the decades of 1920 and 1930, especially to characterize the limits of a formal democracy and law, as opposed to a social democracy as the Weimar project was intended. Starting from the idea that there was a temporary balance between classes established by Weimar - thesis explained in "On the theory of State of socialism and bolshevism" and in "Change of meaning of parliamentarism", both texts from 1928 -, Kirchheimer shows that law becomes central to consolidate the conquests of each class, to anchor political pretensions and claims. Thus, the anchorage in the law, and mainly in the Weimar Constitution, unbalances the background equilibrium. For Kirchheimer, there is a shift from the field of politics to the field of law, and this is the core of the concept of "Juridification" (Verrechtlichung).The objective of this scientific initiation project is to present the diagnosis of time of the Weimar Republic presented by Kirchheimer in a specific text: "Weimar& and then?", giving special emphasis to the role of the concept of juridification in this diagnosis and its relationship with the crisis of the Weimarian democracy.