Die Eingriffsschwelle beim Verbot extremistischer Parteien und Vereine in Deutschland und England

An interpretation of the rules on the proscription of political parties and organisations influenced by the liberal structure of the Basic Law – the author pursues this aim by critically discussing the assumptions of the alleged ‘lessons from Weimar’ and the decisions of the Constitutional Court on proscribing the SRP and the KPD. As an alternative, he develops an interpretation of proscription rules on grounds of the free democratic basic order and its origins in the constitutional text, which primarily builds on political freedom and proportionality. Accordingly, political parties and organisations may only be proscribed if they pose a substantial threat to one of the legal interests protected by the relevant legal provisions. The examination is completed by a comparison of German and English rules on proscription, showing that a certain degree of aplomb is no vice but in fact a virtue of democracy.