Imperial_Germany

Imperial Germany Voting in Imperial Germany: The Need For a Voice Voting has long been and will continue to be a carefully watched and highly contested institution. Democracy, government for/by the people, gives the average citizen the opportunity to participate in their nation’s political nature. In looking at the relatively high voter turnout in Imperial Germany, many hypotheses can be applied as to why so many citizens came out to vote. The reasons are quite simple; there was such a high voter turnout because for the first time citizens of Germany were given a voice in politics. It was the opposite of prisoner’s dilemma – they feared that if they didn’t vote, no one else would. Also helping voter turnout was high collective action among political groups that assured voter identification. Lastly, the fact that religious sects (Protestant and Catholic) wanted a government that they could peacefully coexist with. Therefore, they took on a more active role in politics and used parishioners as their own voice. Before we delve into the intricacies of Imperial German voting, perhaps a brief history of the government is in order. The German Empire--often called the Second Reich to distinguish germany, reichstag, voter, vote, government, high, turnout, political, kaiser, imperial, catholic, groups, workers, time, protestant, power, parties, german, collective, bundesrat, wasn’t, voting, voters, voice, universal, suffrage, one, first, didn’t, coercion, became, action, way, votes