Politics of Germany

Politics of Germany takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Federal Chancellor is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, Bundestag and Bundesrat. Since 1949 the party system is dominated by the conservative Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

The Judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature.The political system is laid out in the 1949 constitution, the Grundgesetz (Basic Law), which remained in effect with minor amendments after 1990's German Reunification.

The constitution emphasizes the protection of individual liberty in an extensive catalogue of human rights and also divides powers both between the federal and state levels and between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. In many ways, the 1949 Grundgesetz is a strong response to the perceived flaws of the failed 1919 Weimar Republic, which collapsed in 1933 and was replaced by the dictatorship of the Third Reich.

Federalism

The Federal Republic (Bundesrepublik) consists of 16 federal states (Länder, also referred to as Bundesländer). The Grundgesetz prescribes that legislature is to be handled by the states except where explicitly stated in the Grundgesetz itself. This principle has been more or less reversed in practice through many amendments of the constitution since 1949, leaving basically only police, education, cultural and communal affairs to be handled by state legislature. The executive branch, though, is still mainly organized at the state level, which means that laws that the state civil services operate under and enforce are to a large extent federal laws. This strengthens the states' role in federal legislation via the Bundesrat.

The political systems of the individual states are prescribed by state constitutions, but resemble that of the federal level to a certain extent.The heads of the federal states' governments are called Ministerpräsidenten (Minister-President) or—in case of the three city-states—Regierender Bürgermeister (Governor-Mayor, in Berlin), Erster Bürgermeister (First Mayor, in Hamburg) or Bürgermeister und Präsident des Senats (Mayor and President of the Senate, in Bremen). They each form a state cabinet as well, although it is usually much smaller than the federal government.Elections for the parliaments of the Bundesländer occur every four to five years, depending on the state.

Federal executive branch

The Bundeskanzler (Federal Chancellor) heads the Bundesregierung (Federal Cabinet) and thus the executive branch of the federal government. He is elected by and responsible to the Bundestag, Germany's parliament. Germany, like the United Kingdom, can thus be classified as a parliamentary system.

The Chancellor cannot be removed from office during a 4-year term unless the Bundestag has agreed on a successor. This Constructive Vote of No Confidence is intended to avoid the situation of the Weimar Republic in which the executive did not have enough support in the legislature to govern effectively, but the legislature was too divided to name a successor.

Except between 1969 and 1982, the Chancellor has always been the candidate of the largest party, usually supported by a coalition of two or more parties with a majority in the parliament. The Chancellor appoints a Vice-Chancellor (Vizekanzler), who is a member of his cabinet, usually the Foreign Minister. When there is a coalition government (which has, so far, always been the case, except for the period of 1957 to 1961), the Vice-Chancellor usually belongs to the smaller party of the coalition.

The heads of governments may change the structure of ministries whenever and however they see fit. For example, in the middle of January 2001, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture was renamed to Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture as a consequence of the BSE crisis. For that measure, competences from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Health were transferred to the new Ministry of Consumer Protection.

Subordinate to the cabinet is the Civil service of Germany.

By contrast, the duties of the Bundespräsident (Federal President) are largely representative and ceremonial; power is exercised by the Chancellor. The President is elected every 5 years on May 23 by the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung), a special body convoked only for this purpose, comprising the entire Bundestag and an equal number of state delegates selected especially for this purpose.In May 2004, Horst Köhler of the was elected. The reason that the President is not popularly elected is to prevent him from gaining enough popular legitimacy to circumvent the constitution, as occurred with the Weimar Republic.