German Democratic Party in the context of "Centre-left politics"

Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (/ˈveɪbər/; German: [ˈveːbɐ] ; 21 April 1864 – 14 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sciences more generally. His ideas continue to influence social theory and research.

Born in Erfurt in 1864, Weber studied law and history in Berlin, Göttingen, and Heidelberg. After earning his doctorate in law in 1889 and habilitation in 1891, he taught in Berlin, Freiburg, and Heidelberg. He married his cousin Marianne Schnitger two years later. In 1897, he had a breakdown after his father died following an argument. Weber ceased teaching and travelled until the early 1900s. He recovered and wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. During the First World War, he initially supported Germany's war effort but became critical of it and supported democratisation. He also gave the lectures "Science as a Vocation" and "Politics as a Vocation". After the war, Weber co-founded the German Democratic Party, unsuccessfully ran for office, and advised the drafting of the Weimar Constitution. Becoming frustrated with politics, he resumed teaching in Vienna and Munich. He died of pneumonia in 1920 at the age of 56, possibly as a result of the post-war Spanish flu pandemic. A book, Economy and Society, was left unfinished.

The German People's Party (German: Deutsche Volkspartei, DVP) was a conservative-liberal political party during the Weimar Republic that was the successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire. Along with the left-liberal German Democratic Party (DDP), it represented political liberalism in Germany between 1918 and 1933.

The party's best known politician was its founding chairman and later Chancellor and Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann. With the exception of two short-lived cabinets in 1921 and 1922, the DVP was represented in all Weimar governments from 1920 to 1931. In the late 1920s it turned more to the right politically but could not compete with other nationalist parties. By 1932 the DVP's share of the vote had shrunk to barely over one percent, and it disbanded shortly after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933.

The Progressive People's Party (German: Fortschrittliche Volkspartei, FVP) was a social liberal party in the German Empire. It was formed on 6 March 1910 from the merger of the Free-minded People's Party, the Free-minded Union and the German People's Party. The FVP advocated the parliamentarisation of the Empire and socio-political changes such as universal suffrage and the right to form and join trade unions. Its membership was largely middle class, including merchants, mid-level civil servants, salaried employees and academics. It occasionally cooperated with the Social Democratic Party before World War I. Although initially in favour of a wartime policy of annexations, it later supported the 1917 Reichstag Peace Resolution and the constitutional reforms of October 1918. After the war, the FVP joined with the left wing of the National Liberal Party to form the German Democratic Party of the Weimar Republic.

The Young German Order (German: Jungdeutscher Orden, shortened form Jungdo) was a nationalist and antisemitic association founded by Artur Mahraun in the early years of the Weimar Republic. It grew out of a Freikorps unit but kept its paramilitary structure for only a few years before it turned away from the political Right. It differed from other similar associations in its organisation and customs, which were based on the medieval Teutonic Order, and in its political aims. Mahraun hoped to overcome class and social differences in German society by instilling it with the camaraderie that front-line soldiers had experienced during World War I.

Most of its members belonged to the middle classes. It was antisemitic and elitist and in favour of reconciliation with France. It achieved its historical prominence through its brief merger with the left-liberal German Democratic Party to form the German State Party in 1930. It was banned when the Nazi Party came to power in 1933.

The German State Party (German: Deutsche Staatspartei or DStP) was a short-lived German political party of the Weimar Republic. The party was formed on 28 July 1930 by the merger of the German Democratic Party with the People's National Reich Association (the political wing of the Young German Order).

The Free Democratic Party (German: Freie Demokratische Partei, FDP, German pronunciation: [ɛfdeːˈpeː] ) is a liberal political party in Germany. The FDP was founded in 1948 by members of former liberal political parties in Germany before World War II, namely the German Democratic Party and the German People's Party. For most of the second half of the 20th century, particularly from 1961 to 1982, the FDP held the balance of power in the Bundestag. It has been a junior coalition partner to both the CDU/CSU (1949–1956, 1961–1966, 1982–1998, and 2009–2013) and Social Democratic Party (SPD; 1969–1982 and 2021–2024).

In the 2013 federal election, the FDP failed to win any directly elected seats in the Bundestag and came up short of the 5 percent threshold to qualify for list representation, being left without representation in the Bundestag for the first time in its history. In the 2017 federal election, the FDP regained its representation in the Bundestag, receiving 10.6% of the vote. From the 2021 federal election to the 2024 German government crisis, the FDP was part of governing Scholz cabinet in a "traffic light coalition" with the SPD and the Greens. In the 2025 federal election, the party again failed to win any directly elected seats and came up short of the 5 percent threshold to qualify for list representation, leaving the party with no seats in the Bundestag.