ABSTRACT
Alone among post-1871 German states, the Federal Republic has been internally stable and a contributor to wider European stability. At the foundation of the Federal Republic in 1949 this outcome looked extremely unlikely. Its future trajectory appeared more likely to be one of renewed instability. The defeat in 1945 had resulted in the division of Germany and the loss of substantial territories. Berlin was under FourPower control and could not be the capital of the new polity. One-quarter of the population were recent refugees whose presence was resented by the host communities. War and defeat had bequeathed deep economic and social dislocation. The new West German state purposefully deconcentrated power away from central government in a new, institutionally plural separation of powers; this ‘state without a centre’1
seemingly lacked the capacity to deal with the challenges of dislocation and reconstruction. The residual powers of the wartime allies left West Germany with minimal capacity to act externally.
