Das Parteiverbot im Lichte der Europäischen Menschenrechtskonvention

This contribution outlines the standards of party ban according to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the German Grundgesetz (GG). Art. 11 sect. 2 ECHR and Art. 21 sect. 2 GG provide converging preconditions to protect democratic procedures from extremist agitation. Dealing with cases from Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights developed a clear and present danger test which allows to distinguish between legitimate rejection of radical political concepts endangering political freedom and illegitimate persecution of opposition parties by means of party ban. As the relevant decisions of the German Constitutional Court date from the 1950s, the European Court of Human Rights' adjudication supplies important indications to modernize the German approach. As a result, the party ban problem gives an example for the cooperation of Human Rights Courts within the European system of communicating national and international legal concepts. Accepting the ECHR as a source of Constitutional interpretation, German Constitutional law gains coherence and connectivity within the Pan-European Constitutional discourse. Explaining key concepts like »liberal and democratic order« or »proportionality«, this contribution exemplifies the potential to adapt Art. 21 sect. 2 to the Convention's regulatory impact.