Items21The creator’s order
  1. 1Karl RennerKarl RennerRenner formed Austria's provisional government in April 1945 with Socialists, Conservatives and Communists, restored the 1920 constitution and became president. The grand coalition and "Proporz" sharing of posts between the two main parties that followed ended the civil war politics of the 1930s,…0i
  2. 2Alcide De GasperiAlcide De GasperiBorn 3 Apr 1881De Gasperi led eight coalition governments from 1945 to 1953, oversaw the 1946 referendum that made Italy a republic and governed through the Christian Democrats' alliance with smaller centrist parties. His expulsion of the Communists from government in 1947 set the pattern of an excluded…0i
  3. 3Palmiro TogliattiPalmiro TogliattiBorn 26 Mar 1893The Italian Communist leader's 1944 "Salerno turn" committed his party to a parliamentary republic, and his support for the 1948 constitution made the largest Western Communist party part of the democratic settlement. As justice minister his 1946 amnesty freed many Fascists, and his loyalty to…0i
  4. 4Umberto TerraciniUmberto TerraciniBorn 27 Jul 1895Terracini, a Communist who had spent years in Fascist prisons, presided over Italy's Constituent Assembly from 1947 and signed the constitution in December that year. His impartial chairing across the Cold War divide is an example of how a constituent body can hold together after a government…0i
  5. 5Konrad AdenauerKonrad AdenauerBorn 5 Jan 1876Adenauer presided over the Parliamentary Council that wrote West Germany's 1949 Basic Law and then governed as chancellor through it, using the constructive vote of no confidence and the 5 per cent threshold that kept governments stable. His government's reintegration of former Nazi officials, such…0i
  6. 6Carlo Schmid (German politician)Carlo Schmid (German politician)Born 3 Dec 1896The Social Democrat chaired the Parliamentary Council's main committee and is counted among the principal authors of the Basic Law, insisting it be a provisional document for a divided country. He later helped write the SPD's 1959 Godesberg programme, which turned the party into a broad people's…0i
  7. 7Elisabeth SelbertElisabeth SelbertBorn 22 Sept 1896One of only four women among the Parliamentary Council's 65 voting members, Selbert fought for the plain sentence "Men and women have equal rights" in Article 3, mobilising a public letter campaign when it was first rejected. It forced the revision of the civil code, though family law was not fully…0i
  8. 8Willem DreesWillem DreesBorn 5 Jul 1886Drees led Dutch "Roman-Red" coalitions of Catholics and Social Democrats from 1948 to 1958, the classic case of consensus government across the pillars of a divided society. His emergency old-age pension of 1947 became the universal AOW pension of 1957; his governments also fought the colonial war…0i
  9. 9Tage ErlanderTage ErlanderBorn 13 Jun 1901Sweden's prime minister from 1946 to 1969 governed largely in minority or coalition, bringing employers, unions and opposition leaders to informal talks at the Harpsund country residence. "Harpsund democracy" showed consensus-building outside parliament, praised for stability and criticised as…0i
  10. 10Gaston EyskensGaston EyskensBorn 1 Apr 1905Eyskens's government concluded Belgium's 1958 School Pact, ending the long conflict between Catholic and secular parties over school funding, and in 1970 he carried the first constitutional reform recognising linguistic communities and regions. It began the step-by-step federalisation that still…0i