Zwischen Sozialismus und Sozialstaat?

What alternatives to the (social) market economy does the Basic Law permit? Timo Laven offers a systematic exploration of the intellectual and scholarly history of Article 15 of the Basic Law-the provision governing the socialization of property-from the Weimar Republic to the Berlin referendum on the socialization of large housing companies.

The question of ownership has returned with new urgency, most visibly in the Berlin referendum on the socialization of large housing portfolios. At the center of the debate is Article 15 of the Basic Law, a provision that has never been applied since 1949. Yet the precise meaning of its authorization to transfer land, natural resources, and means of production into public ownership remains unresolved and historically contested. At the same time, the provision embodies the possibility of a fundamentally different economic order and thus raises far-reaching questions about our understanding of the constitution. The polarized debate either relegates Article 15 to the status of a “constitutional fossil” or regards it as an instrument of democratic transformation.
Timo Laven provides the first systematic account of the eventful yet largely forgotten history of the socialization clause. The first part places Article 15 within its intellectual-historical context from the mid-nineteenth century onward, revealing it as a product of political conflicts and legislative experimentation during the Weimar Republic. The period following the Second World War presents a more nuanced picture that challenges the conventional narrative surrounding the political circumstances of 1949. The second main part reconstructs, for the first time, the constitutional-law debate since the provision entered into force and demonstrates that Article 15 was initially understood as a serious component of Germany’s economic constitution. Its later marginalization, by contrast, resulted from political choices and methodological shifts in fundamental rights doctrine.
This historical perspective helps explain today’s polarization, calls presumed constitutional limits into question, and opens space for an informed and forward-looking discussion about property, the common good, and democratic self-government.

Einleitung
Prolog: Sozialisierung als historischer Prozess
Erster Teil: Sozialisierung in Weimar und Entstehung des Art. 15 GG
A. Vom historischen Prozess zur politischen Maßnahme: Die Sozialisierung in der Zeit der Weimarer Republik - B. Von der politischen zur rechtlichen Maßnahme: Die Sozialisierung in den Landesverfassungen - C. Die Entstehung des Art. 15 GG
Zweiter Teil: Art. 15 GG und die Rechtswissenschaft der Bonner Republik
A. Das „Sensationsinteresse" an Sozialisierung bis 1954 - B. Die Ruhe nach dem Sturm: Sozialisierung in der nivellierten Mittelstandsgesellschaft 1955-1970 - C. Zunehmende Polarisierung: Art. 15 GG in den 1970er Jahren
Schluss
Epilog: Die Sozialisierung von Wohnungsunternehmen
A. Das Erwachen des Fossils: Die Vergesellschaftung großer Wohnungsunternehmen - B. Die dritte Sozialisierungsdebatte der Bundesrepublik

• By (author) Timo Laven