Hennis has been a leading critic of German political life and thought for the last 50 years. In this selection from his writings on government and constitutionality he shows how the postwar reconstruction of democratic politics in Germany highlighted general problems of party politics and democratic order that have only recently been recognized.

Having in May 1945 survived three sinkings and a pending court-martial, WILHELM HENNIS studied law in Göttingen University, Germany and in 1951 became the Bundestag assistant to the legal adviser of the SPD, and then from 1953 assistant to Carlo Schmid, Professor of Political Science in Frankfurt. After a period in Hamburg, he was in 1967 appointed Professor of Political Theory in Freiburg, a post which he held until his retirement. In 2003 he was awarded the Reuchlin Prize.