Constitutional Patriotism

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Constitutional patriotism is a citizenship concept that sees itself as an alternative to ethnically based patriotism . According to this concept, citizenship is based on shared political values ​​such as pluralism , democracy and freedom of expression rather than on ethnic or linguistic communities .

The term was introduced in Germany in 1970 by Dolf Sternberger and, after Sternberger's speech at the 25th anniversary of the Academy for Political Education (1982), led to major controversies. The idea was picked up in 1986 by Jürgen Habermas . Constitutional patriotism can only exist in a willing nation , the concept influenced the development of the European Union .

Underlying understanding of the nation

Constitutional patriotism is based on a republican understanding of the nation. This assumes that the nation one by common will and a common story held together community was of people. These see each other as free and equal. Such an understanding of the nation was largely shaped in modern times during the Enlightenment and by Ernest Renan . It corresponds to the civil religion that goes back to Rousseau .

For Habermas, an active citizen role arises from popular sovereignty as democratic self-legislation. Such a citizen nation is held together by the “practice of citizens” and not by ethnic-cultural similarities. In a republican tradition that goes back to Aristotle , Habermas sees the citizens as an integral part of the political community . On the other hand, there is a citizen who is only externally connected to the state through services and consideration.

definition

Constitutional patriotism is understood to mean the citizen's identification with the basic values , institutions and procedures of the republican basic political order and constitution and the citizen's active role as a citizen. Involvement in political events is central to this concept according to the conception of the nation. In practice, this means at least an interest in political issues and extends from voting to active policy-making, e.g. B. in the form of citizens' initiatives or parties.

In such a nation, the advocates of constitutional patriotism are required to adopt a purposeful and rational approach to political issues within the framework of a rational discourse . There should be a rational identification with the basic political order . An affective identification is also possible. Unconditional acceptance of the state, the constitution and any changes to it is not meant by constitutional patriotism, as it primarily describes a commitment to the universal basic values ​​of the nation and only secondarily an identification with the state and the constitution that reflect these norms. In the republican conception of the state, the political community is ultimately not seen as an end in itself from the nation, but as a necessary frame of reference for free and equal citizens.

For Sternberger, "the essence and endeavor of the constitutional state [...] is the safeguarding of freedom". With the redemption of "human rights [...] as civil rights" , the state's monopoly on the use of force is legitimized , as it ensures the protection of rights. After all, democracy can best guarantee this protection.

Constitutional patriotism is accompanied by the right to emigrate and to refuse citizenship. On the other hand, the concept also offers immigrants the opportunity to identify with the country's political culture.

debate

Constitutional patriotism is often criticized for its “lack of experience”. The required rational attitude towards political issues does not manage to address the feelings of the citizens. An emotional bond with the nation is, however, necessary for the formation of an active community. Proponents of constitutional patriotism answer with the counter-question whether an affective bond is necessary at all. Other concepts of a nation, such as an ethnic nation, would only have a common history , symbols (e.g. flags ) and myth- reminiscent occasions (e.g. holidays ) as a specific reference . In a republic, however, these references are entirely compatible with constitutional patriotism.

Another point of criticism is that constitutional patriotism has no relation to country, people or history. It is countered that a political culture has grown. The constitutional process should be understood as a historical-dynamic process.

The past is also reflected in political culture and socialization . A nation as a community of wills of people defines itself among other things through the common history, more precisely: the imagined, "remembered" national history. The story finally took place in a certain territory. History and country are thus incorporated into constitutional patriotism as basic values ​​of the citizens through their socialization.

Critics of the concept complain that constitutional patriotism means denying membership of the political community to compatriots who reject the current constitution . The lack of reference to the people in the sense of an ethnic group is precisely what constitutional patriots want, as they assume freedom and equality for all people. A nation is not constituted by descent , but by will and history. The category people is to be understood in the sense of the demo , i.e. H. the set of all eligible voters, which forms the basis of democracy .

With the word of constitutional patriotism, the father image of the old pater familias is activated, which is then passed on to the good "father state". The child's duty of obedience will now be transferred to the requirements of the constitution. That is why it would be advisable to expand the old concept of civil religion instead .

Constitutional patriotism is not only a normative option of the citizen; it is also connected with normative demands and educational intentions of the authors. Finally, there is a tension between the integration function on the one hand and the rule-limiting function (protection of minorities) of the constitution on the other.

For counter-criticism and the attempt to revitalize it politically, reference should be made to the farewell speech by the German President Joachim Gauck . He explains:

“... the word constitutional patriotism, born in the academic world, is not just a theorem, but can also be a reality - wherever people feel this inclination towards democracy. It refutes all those who regard constitutional patriotism as a pale, anemic construct, a makeshift from the times of a divided and morally discredited nation. "

History of the term

The term originally goes back to Dolf Sternberger and was later taken up by Richard von Weizsäcker , Jürgen Habermas and other politicians and political scientists . During the historians' dispute , the term became more popular and has since appeared again and again in debates on dominant culture , integration , European integration and the like.

It emerged not least against the background of the division of Germany . Since the German Reich was reorganized after the Second World War , the West-oriented Federal Republic and the real socialist GDR had diverged politically and culturally, which is why an identification with an " entire Germany " was not easily possible. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany also provided for a definition of nationality based on descent in Article 116 . This ius sanguinis principle was only expanded in 1999 by the red-green coalition to include the so-called ius soli ( Latin : right of the ground).

literature

  • Joachim Bühler: The integrative of the constitution. A political-theoretical investigation of the Basic Law. Nomos Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-8329-6449-8 .
  • Jürgen Habermas : Citizenship and National Identity . In: (ders.): Facticity and validity. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M. 1992.
  • Albert Krölls : The Basic Law - a reason to celebrate? A polemic against constitutional patriotism. VSA, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89965-342-7 .
  • Helmut Heit (ed.): The values ​​of Europe. Constitutional patriotism and community of values ​​in the EU? Series: Region - Nation - Europe Vol. 31, 2006; ISBN 3-8258-8770-7
  • Jan-Werner Müller : Constitutional Patriotism. Edition Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-518-12612-7 .
  • Dieter Oberndörfer : Germany in the sideline trap - Political culture in times of globalization . Herder, Freiburg i. Breisgau 2005.
  • Siegfried Schiele (Ed.): Constitutional patriotism as a goal of political education? Wochenschau-Verlag, Schwalbach / Ts. 1993.
  • Dolf Sternberger : Constitutional Patriotism . Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1990.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dolf Sternberger, Incomparably full of life, but always endangered: Isn't our constitution democratic enough? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung No. 22 of January 27, 1970, p. 11. Sternberger had already formulated the idea in 1947: “The concept of the fatherland is only fulfilled in its free constitution - not just in its written, but in the constitution, in which we all find ourselves as citizens of this country, in which we participate daily [and] in which we live. ”(Dolf Sternberger: Concept of the Fatherland. In: Die Wandlung 2. Jg. (1947) 494-511, quoted in 502)
  2. ↑ Habermas "The only patriotism that does not alienate us from the West is a constitutional patriotism." In: Jürgen Habermas , A kind of damage settlement: The apologetic tendencies in German contemporary history, Die Zeit No. 29, July 11, 1986. P. 40 .
  3. ^ Justine Lacroix: For a European Constitutional Patriotism . In: Political Studies . 50, No. 5, December 2002, pp. 944-958. doi : 10.1111 / 1467-9248.00402 .
  4. ^ Dolf Sternberger: Constitutional Patriotism . Insel, Frankfurt a. M. 1990, pp. 26, 30.
  5. ↑ Cf. on this emotional bond in general Agathe Bienfait: In the case of belonging. A critical inventory of mainstream multiculturalism (studies on the Weber paradigm). VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006, p. 157 .
  6. ↑ Axel Montenbruck : Democratic preamble-humanism. Western civil religion and universal triad “Nature, Soul and Reason” , Civil Religion series. A legal philosophy as a cultural philosophy, Volume I: foundation . 5th again considerably expanded edition, 2015, p. 83, ISBN 978-3-944675-27-5 ( online , Freie Universität Berlin).
  7. ^ Bühler: The integrative of the constitution .
  8. ↑ Jan-Werner Müller, Constitutional Patriotism. A systemic defense, processes Volume 3, 2010, 111 ff.
  9. ^ As Minister of Justice: Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Leitkultur, Constitutional Patriotism and Value Pluralism, lecture on the 1st Bayreuth Future Forum, 17./18. October 2008, [1]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.zukunftsforum.uni-bayreuth.de
  10. ↑ Volker Kronenberg: "Verfassungspatriotismus" in a united Germany. In: From Politics and Contemporary History, No. 28 of the German Bundestag , July 6, 2009, archived from the original on February 12, 2012 ; accessed on June 13, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Joachim Gauck : Speech at the end of the term of office on the question "What should it look like, our country?" from the inaugural address of March 23, 2012. In: bundespraesident.de. January 18, 2017, accessed June 13, 2019 .