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Politics in Germany
Basic Law of 1949
• ensure that all major parties are represented– proportional representation– traditionally used in continental Europe
• ensure that only major parties are represented– avoid fragmentation in the party system of the
Weimar Republic– avoid the rise of extremist small parties
Hybrid electoral rules
• Two parts in one ballot
• One part:– single-member district– candidate with plurality of vote wins– half of Bundestag members are directly
elected in this manner
Hybrid electoral rules
• Second part:– select a party at the federal level– all second votes are aggregated nationwide– proportional representation– party lists prepared before the election
• 5-percent rule
– half of Bundestag members are elected as party representatives
ballot
• Choose one candidate from the left-hand column
• Choose one party at the federal level from the right-hand column
Political parties on the left
• Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)– former Socialist Unity Party of East Germany
• Greens/Bundnis ‘90– Greens– environment
• Social Democratic Party– SPD– ruling coalition (SPD & Greens) 1998-2005
Political parties: center & right
• Free Democratic Party– FDP– center
• Christian Democrats– Christian Democratic Union (CDU)– Christian Social Union (CSU)
• current federal chancellor– Angela Merkel (since November 2005)
Election results 1949 - 2002
• SPD: 34.3 percent (2002 38.5%)
• CDU: 27.8 percent (2002 29.5%)
• CSU: 7.4 percent (2002 9.0%)
• GRÜNE: 8.1 percent (2002 8.6%)
• FDP: 9.8 percent (2002 7.4%)
• Die Linke.: 8.7 percent (2002 4.0%)
• Others: 3.9 percent (2002 3.0%)
Federal Chancellor
• Chancellor defines government policy
• Chancellor controls the Cabinet– 14 federal department ministers– Chancellor recommends the formal
appointment or dismissal of ministers– formal policy guidelines are legally binding
• composition of Cabinet is a major issue in building a multi-party government
Coalition government
Constructive no-confidence vote
• Constructive vote of no-confidence
• Bundestag can remove a chancellor under the condition that– majority of Bundestag must agree on a
successor
• ensure continuity and initial majority support for new chancellor
• makes removal of incumbent more difficult
Constructive no-confidence vote
• succeeded only once– 1982– elected Chancellor Kohl
(CDU/CSU)– Kohl won 4 elections– replaced by Schroder (SPD)
after 1998 election
Federal Constitutional Court
• Reviews the constitutionality of legislation
• limit the decision-making power of Bundestag
• constitutional issues are brought before it– constitutional complaints files by individuals– actual court cases referred by a lower court– federal or state governments or 1/3 of
Bundestag deputies can request review of law
Chancellor
Parliament Constitutional Court
Cabinet
Political parties Interest groups
Domestic economy
Domestic culture Domestic society
U.S.
Britain France
Russia
Interest groups
• Integral part of German political process– welcomed as necessary participants
• formally involved in policy process– government contact relevant groups when
formulating new policies– formal advisory role in public administration– discussion and negotiation of policy plans
Corporatism
• Cooperation between government and interest groups
• social interests organized into organizations
• single association represent each social sector
• associations are hierarchically structured
Corporatism
• government accept associations as formal representatives
• associations may participate directly in the policy process
Peak associations
• German Federation of Trade Unions– over 8 million members– 11 unions
• Confederation of German Employers’ Associations– 80% of entrepreneurs– represents employers as negotiating partners
of the trade unions
Organized capitalism
• Unique model of combining state and market
• “social market economy”
• blur the distinction between the public and private sector