Philosophy:Unrechtsstaat

Short description: German term for a state not constrained by law

The German term Unrechtsstaat (German: [ˈʊnʁɛçt͡sˌʃtaːt] (listen); pl. Unrechtsstaaten, German: [ˈʊnʁɛçt͡sˌʃtaːtn̩] (listen)) is a pejorative approximately meaning "unconstitutional, unjust, undemocratic or unlawful state" used to refer to a state in which the exercise of major aspects of governmental power is not constrained by the law, as opposed to a Rechtsstaat (constitutional state). It is used not only as a jurisprudential term but also as a political one. The origin of the term is attributed to the Prussian Catholic politician Peter Reichensperger, who in 1853 used the term to imply that Prussia would become "unjust" if it curtailed the rights of its Catholic subjects.

Examples

States that have been referred to as an Unrechtsstaat include:

Historical

• The German Reich and its allied Axis powers
• The German Democratic Republic
• Apartheid-era South Africa
• The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Current

• The Belarus
• The China
• The Democratic People's Republic of Korea
• The Republic of the Union of Myanmar
• The Russia
• The Islamic Republic of Iran
• The Syrian Arab Republic

Connotations

According to lawyer Horst Sendler (de), an Unrechtsstaat is characterized by a lack of striving for rights and an overall failure to achieve them. At the same time, individual violations of law and constitution do not make a state an Unrechtsstaat, because such violations also occur in a Rechtsstaat. Also, a state should not necessarily be considered an Unrechtsstaat even if it does not correspond with the model of a classical civil Rechtsstaat and in particular the German concept of a Rechtsstaat. On the other hand, the term Unrechtsstaat does not exclude the possibility of instances in which such a state has areas where qualities characteristic of a Rechtsstaat are dominant and where justice is realized in practice. In contrast to this notion of an Unrechtsstaat, Gerd Roellecke holds that the differentiating quality of an Unrechtsstaat is that it does not expect the equality of all people. In contrast with historical Nichtrechtsstaaten (non-Rechtsstaaten), Unrechtsstaaten have the capacity to be Rechtsstaaten after a period of historical development.

The German public is divided on whether to cite the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as an example of Unrechtsstaat. Scholars who view it as such maintain that it is an accurate designation because the state was not based on the rule of law and was unjust. Additionally, the traditional and commemorative practices and framings sanctioned by the German government depict the GDR as an Unrechtsstaat as well as a dictatorship. Others such as members of the left-wing Die Linke party criticize the label and claim that declaring the GDR an Unrechtsstaat is implying that any alternative to the "capitalist" system of Germany is illegitimate, that all laws in the GDR were unjust, and equating the GDR with Nazi Germany.