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The functioning and apparent successes of the political leadership in Nazi Germany, has for long presented political scientists with a very complex and seemingly ambiguous system to interpret and explain. This study addresses this very matter by firstly identifying the ideological environment within which it functioned as one in which an effective leader with effective leadership tactics was vital. Secondly, two factors are identified as key to the understanding and explanation of political leadership in the Third Reich. These factors are the 'Hitler myth' as a vibrant leadership cult that stood at the centre of Adolf Hitler's relationship with the German people and thus formed the base of Hitler's authority, and the 'Fahrer Prinzip' as expression of the totalitarian style of leadership present in the Nazi movement and the Nazi State, especially regarding the role of Hitler as Fahrer of the Nazi Party and later also of the Nazi State. / Dissertation (MA (Political Science))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

This paper is an attempt to research a hypothesis concerning the policy formation processes of an open and of a closed political system. The paper opens with a discussion of the theoretical roots of the project. Particular attention has been paid to J.N. Rosenau's pre-theory of comparative foreign policy, and works by authors such as R.B. Farrell, Raymond Aron, and Alexis de Tocqueville on the differences between open and closed political systems. The hypothesis we tested was derived from the writings of R.B. Farrell. It reads: In a closed polity bureaucrats are less likely to provide information contradicting the leadership's known positions than in an open polity. In the second chapter the method of study, the case study, is introduced and discussed. Great Britain and Germany just prior to the First World War were chosen as examples of an open and a closed system. Their suitability as cases for this research project is critically analysed. Data on size, wealth, and political accountability are presented. In the third chapter four leaders are identified and their policy preferences outlined. The four are Edward Grey in Great Britain, Emperor William II, Chancellor von Bethmann- Hollweg, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs von Jagow in Germany. The fourth chapter discusses the kinds of messages which were being sent to these various leaders. We expected that in the case of Germany the content of these messages would be less contradictory of the positions of the above-mentioned German leaders than in the case of Britain and Sir Edward Grey. The conclusion of the study is that in the particular eases of pre-War Britain and Germany the hypothesis is not supported. In the final chapter explanations of why this might be so are suggested, two new hypotheses are formulated, and the findings are related briefly to the theory from which the paper originated. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

While this study purports to offer nothing new or original to the enormous body of research pertaining to Nazism, the purpose of this thesis is to provide an examination of the political core contained in this particular ideology. The components of National Socialism and their ultimate effect on Germany will be the major focus of this thesis. Nazism, as a political ideology, was an extreme force that shook the foundations of the twentieth-century world. After an intensive survey of the literature in this field, the author realized that little could be added. The objective, here, is to examine the historical roots from which Nazism developed, its ideological core, and its effect upon the German state.

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West Germany's political culture has been intensively studied during the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, most studies explore The West German Political Culture as a whole. They do not take into account that Germany is a country which consists of different regions with their own history and tradition. This paper is essentially an effort to rectify this situation by attempting to determine if there are any distinguishable political subcultures in Germany. The assumption is, that historical, phenomena are important in explaining the present political culture of West Germany. In order to determine whether the historical development of West German political culture led to different present political subcultures two approaches were used. First, a qualitative approach; that is a socio-historical library-based analysis, was used. From this analysis propositions for the present West German political subcultures were derived. They were tested with an empirical analysis of survey data from a 1975 sample of West Germans. Suggestions based on the socio-historical analysis accounting for differences in contemporary political culture only partly hold true in the empirical analysis. This paper is a preliminary examination of West German political subcultures offering suggestions and direction for future research. / Master of Arts