Proportional Representation & Hitler's Rise to Power

In terms of intended outcomes, the Weimar Republic was a very democratic society before its collapse at the hands of Hitler in 1933-34. Women and the working class were given the right to vote in the proportional representation system, a level of new enfranchisement that transformed the voter distribution of Germany's electorate. A multiparty system emerged with parties like the Social Democratic Party, the German People's Party, the National German People's Party, the Centre Party, the Communist Party, and many many more. According to Anthony Downs, a massive change in the voter distribution means that "existent parties will probably be unable to adjust rapidly because they are not ideologically mobile". In the case of Weimar Germany, this inflexibility led to the rise of new opportunistic parties, like the National Socialist Party.

Under proportional representation, it is much easier for a society to elect extremist voices, like Hitler. Because no one is required to achieve a majority, PR can be more representative in both a good and bad way. In 1928, the Nazi party was not represented in the Reichstag. But in 1930, the Nazi Party became the 2nd strongest party in the Reichstag with only 18.3% of the popular vote. By 1933, the Nazis were the most powerful party with 33% of the vote. Hitler achieved this popularity with a new vision for Germany that won over the growing middle class as well as vital supporters in Germany's ruling class. The PR system in the Weimar Republic was highly unstable as parties had to constantly form coalitions, adjust to the entry of new parties, and formulate unstable policy. In this type of instability, Anthony Downs argues that, "a clique of underdogs seizes power" and a "reign of terror" occurs in which "new governors want to eliminate their predecessors". Through political revolution exemplified in the rewriting of the constitution, Hitler eventually achieved general popularity in his construction of a German "National Community" and executed his own reign of terror apparent in the burning of the Reichstag and on the Night of Long Knives.

We often assume that more democracy and more representation (offered by a system like PR) is better for society. However, we must also address the fact that more representation means the validating of voices on the extremes and the facilitation of their rise to power.