Evolution of the constitutional position of selected German-speaking countries’ heads of state in the 20th/21st century
Evolution of the constitutional position of selected German-speaking countries’ heads of state in the 20th/21st century

Summary/Abstract: This paper is an attempt to show the evolution of the constitutional position of the head of state in the years 1920–2013 in Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, with special reference to the specificity of these systems (Austrian federalism, Liechtenstein’s strong position of the monarch and collegial head of state in the Swiss case). It is based on a comparative analysis of the constitutional provisions of constitutional acts and their corresponding amendments. The timeframe of the paper is based on the period 1920–2013, due to the fact that at the very beginning of the 1920s two of the constitutional acts were created in the countries which are the subject of the paper: Austria (1920) and Liechtenstein (1921), which, despite many changes, exist today. The aim of the paper is to indicate differences in the position of the political head of state in 1920, and almost a century later.

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