PREPARATION:

• Read Roskin Ch. 13
  

NOTES:

When the West German "basic law" was written after WWII (by the Germans themselves, but with some arm-twisting by the British, French, and Americans who were then occupying West German), the problem facing its authors was how to create a democracy out of an authoritarian history and culture.  Oh yes -- there was also the two "lessons of the past":  no one wanted another dictator to arise, but they also believed that the Weimar Republic had failed because it was not strong enough to make policy.

When studying the German political system, then, you should pay particular attention to its numerous creative measures to resolve conflict and thread its way between dictatorship and impotence.

Basic Law (Grundgesetz)

In hope of unification, to emphasize the temporary, provisional nature of this arrangement, it was not called a Constitution.  Now with unification, the five new Länder were simply admitted per the normal procedure for new Länder.  1993:  Constitutional Committee reports.  Outcome:  xx??  [None, as far as I know.]

Federal structure of government

Many powers [e.g., education] reserved to the states (Länder).  This is a good idea, to minimize the historical regional / cultural conflicts.

Note the origins of the federal system:

• Germany's history of principalities.
• Allied reconstruction of Germany using the apparatus of the Länder governments as they were conquered and "came on line"
• the desire by the framers of the constitution (meaning the Allies) to use decentralization to prevent authoritarianism.
  

West Berlin had four non-voting representatives to the Federal Government, but with reunification they vote.
The capital was originally in Bonn, but has largely moved to Berlin, with some offices remaining in Bonn.

President:

• Selected from the ranks of the dominant party, but chosen for h/her statesmanlike qualities and sense of nonpartisanship (like the Speaker of the House of Commons).
• Chosen every 5 years by a grand assembly:  the deputies from both houses of Parliament, plus an equal number of delegates from the Länder parliaments.
• A figurehead, with almost no formal power, but as often happens with some authority arising from general respect.  For example, on May 8, 1985, the 40th anniversary of Germany's surrender, Richard von Weizsäcker spoke about the need for Germany to confront and then put behind it its past, including the Germans' knowledge of / complicity in the treatment of Jews.  Thus, like the House of Lords in Britain, the President can raise issues that politicians can't touch.
• Theodor Heuss, 1949 - 1959  [http://www.bundespraesident.de/v-01.htm]
• Heinrich Lübke, 1959 - 1969  [http://www.bundespraesident.de/v-02.htm]
• Gustav W. Heinemann, 1969 - 1974  [http://www.bundespraesident.de/v-03.htm]
• Walter Scheel, 1974 - 1979  [http://www.bundespraesident.de/v-04.htm]
• Karl Carstens, 1979 - 1984  [http://www.bundespraesident.de/v-05.htm]
• Richard von Weizsäcker, 1984-1994  [http://www.bundespraesident.de/v-06.htm]
• Roman Herzog, 1994-1999  [http://www.bundespraesident.de/i-00.htm]
• Johannes Rau, 1999-[present:  October 2002]
  

The Chancellor:

• Approximately like the British Prime Minister, but stronger than the French Premier
• Leader of the largest party
• STRONG CHANCELLOR, to avoid the problem faced by the Weimar Government, where the Chancellor had little strength (except for dictatorial powers)
• Has institutional strength:
• constructive vote of no confidence:  can't easily be brought down.  Only used twice:  (1) April 1972, when the CDU files to substitute their party leader, Rainier Barzel, for SPD Chancellor Willi Brandt.  In a secret vote, they tie 247-247 with 2 abstentions.  (2) October 1982, when the CDU and FDP (i.e., in coalition) voted to substitute their party leader, Helmut Kohl, for SPD Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.  The motion passed, and Kohl took office.  The Kohl government was returned with a large majority in March 1983.
• picks own Cabinet (well, not dictatorially) and can discharge them
• Has historical strength:
• legacy of Conrad Adenauer, a "strong leader" who "made decisions without bothering parliament or his Cabinet too much".
  

Chancellors

• Conrad Adenauer [CDU], 1949-1969
• Willy Brandt [SPD (in coalition w/ the FDP)], 1969-74
• Helmut Schmidt [SPD (in coalition w/ the FDP)], 1974-1982
• Helmut Kohl [CDU/CSU], 1982-1998
• Gerhard Schröder [SPD (in coalition w/ the Greens -- the so-called "red-green coalition"], 1998- [present:  October 2002]  [Note that Schröder and his party won the 2002 election as well, so except for his death, his resignation, or a vote of no confidence, he will remain Chancellor until 2006.]
  

Constitutional Court

Like our Supreme Court, except for the last provision below:

• court of final appeal, short of a constitutional amendment (like our Supreme Court)
• power of judicial review (can overturn legislation as unconstitutional), and thus a political court
• can ban groups & individuals it deems to be seeking to overthrow the constitutional & democratic order.  This provision was included specifically because of Germany's heritage.  While there are many good arguments for toleration of the intolerant -- I take the phrase from John Rawls's (1971) A Theory of Justice, the Germans (and Allies) believed that they were too close to a renewal of intolerance to afford freedom of speech.
  

Parliament

Has two houses:  the Bundesrat (upper) and the Bundestag (lower).  Self-image:  "responsible critic of government, but not a rival force".  In this respect it is between the U.S. (a rival force in our "separation of powers / checks and balances" system) and the U.K., where, under the dominance of party discipline, parliament follows and supports the Government.

Bundesrat

• Link:  www.Bundesrat.de
  
• It was created in the bargain of 1871 between Bismarck and the Länder, to preserve their input into the national government despite unification.
• It's considered the "upper house" of the Parliament, because its members are considered ambassadors from the governments of the Länder.  (The members of the Bundestag, in contrast, are only ambassadors of the people.)  Nevertheless, it is the weaker of the two houses, except in matters pertaining to the duties and privileges of the Länder.
• It has 69 members
• members appointed by state government;  3-6 members per Land.
• 6 seats for each Land with population above 7,000,000:  Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Lower Saxony, and North Rhine-Westphalia.
• 4 seats for each Land w/ 2-6 million population:  Berlin, Brandenburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia
• 3 seats for each Land w/ less than 2 million population:  Bremen, Hamburg, and the Saarland
• Delegations vote en bloc according to the dictates of their government
• Strong only on bills affecting the Länder, where they have an absolute veto;  weak on all other bills, because a simple majority disapproval can be overridden by simple majority approval in the Bundestag, and a ⅔ disapproval can be overridden by ⅔ approval in the Bundestag.  This is different from the arrangement in the United States, where a defeat of any bill by either house is final;  all bills must be passed in identical form by both the Senate and the House of Representatives, and neither can override the other.
• Currently [October 2002] dominated by the CDU/CSU, with  Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Böhme (CDU-Saxony-Anhalt) as president.
  

Bundestag

• Although it is considered the lower house, it is more powerful than the Bundesrat.
• It has 656 members.  However, they don't outvote the Bundesrat, despite their superior numbers, because they meet separately,  just like our Senate and House of Representatives.
• Members are elected in a "two-track voting" system:  half by single-member districts and half by proportional representation [note threshold to eliminate extremist parties:  5% or winning at least three district contests].  This system produces a stable, "2+" party system that tends to be centrist:  to have "catchall" rather than "Weltanschauung" parties.  [See this web page for a simplified example of proportional representation, the 5% rule, etc.]
• The proportional representation part allows candidates to get in who wouldn't win in a head-to-head contest (e.g., experts).
• Council of Elders [= a powerful steering committee, like our House Rules Committee]
• Currently dominated by the SPD [Social Democrats] (and even more so in their coalition with the Greens)
• “The day-to-day business of the Bundestag is organized and directed by the Bundestag president and the four vice presidents.  Under an arrangement enacted during the 1994-1998 legislative term, the presidency goes to a member of the party with the largest Fraktion (parliamentary group) and each of the other Fraktionen is allowed to nominate a vice president” (Source:  The Week in Germany, October 9, 1998, p.2).

Current Cabinet (sworn in 10/22/2002)

• Gerhard Schröder - Chancellor (SPD)
• Joschka Fischer - Minister for Foreign Affairs (Greens)
• Otto Schily - Minister of the Interior
• Brigitte Zypries - Minister of Justice
• Hans Eichel - Minister of Finance
• Wolfgang Clement - Minister of Economics and Labor
• Renate Künast - Minister of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture
• Peter Struck - Minister of Defense
• Renate Schmidt - Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
• Ulla Schmidt - Minister for Health and Social Security
• Manfred Stolpe - Minister of Transport, Building and Housing
• Jürgen Trittin - Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
• Edelgard Bulmahn - Minister of Education and Research
• Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul - Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development

 Electoral System

• The Basic Law guarantees the right to vote by secret ballot in direct and free elections to every German citizen eighteen years of age or older. To be eligible to vote, an individual must have resided in a constituency district for at least three months prior to an election.
• Officials who are popularly elected include Bundestag deputies at the federal level, Landtag representatives or senate members at the Land level, and council members at the district and local levels. Executive officials typically are not chosen in popular, direct elections; however, in a minority of municipalities the mayor is elected by popular vote.
• Elections usually are held every four years at all levels. Elections at the federal, Land, and local levels are not held simultaneously, as in the United States, but rather are staggered. As a result, electoral campaigns are almost always under way, and each election is viewed as a test of the federal government's popularity and the strength of the opposition. All elections are held on Sunday.
• Voter turnout, traditionally high--around 90 percent for national elections, has been decreasing since the early 1980s. Voters are most likely to participate in general elections, but even at that level turnout in western Germany fell from 89.1 percent in 1983 to 84.3 percent in 1987, and to 78.5 percent in 1990. The 1990 general election was the first following unification; turnout was the lowest since the first West German election in 1949.
• The most consistent participants in the electoral process are civil servants, and a clear correlation exists between willingness to vote and increasing social and professional status and income.
• In designing the electoral system, the framers of the Basic Law had two objectives:
• First, they sought to reestablish the system of proportional representation used during the Weimar Republic. A proportional representation system distributes legislative seats based on a party's percentage of the popular vote. For example, if a party wins 15 percent of the popular vote, it receives 15 percent of the seats in the Bundestag.
• The second objective was to construct a system of single-member districts, like those in the United States. The framers believed that this combination would create an electoral system that would not fragment as the Weimar Republic had and would ensure greater accountability of representatives to their electoral districts.
• A hybrid electoral system of personalized proportional representation resulted.  Under the German electoral system, each voter casts two ballots in a Bundestag election. The elector's first vote is cast for a candidate running to represent a particular district. The candidate who receives a plurality of votes becomes the district representative. Germany is divided into 328 electoral districts with roughly 180,000 voters in each district. Half of the Bundestag members are directly elected from these districts. The second ballot is cast for a particular political party. These second votes determine each party's share of the popular vote.
• The first ballot is designed to decrease the anonymity of a strict proportional representation system--thus the description "personalized", but it is the second ballot that determines how many Bundestag seats each party will receive. To ensure that each party's percentage of the combined district (first ballot) and party (second ballot) seats equals its share of the second vote, each party is allocated additional seats. These additional party seats are filled according to lists of candidates drawn up by the state party organization prior to the election. Research indicates that constituency representatives in the Bundestag are more responsive to their electorate's needs and are slightly more likely to follow their constituents' preferences when voting than deputies chosen from the party lists.
• If a party wins more constituency seats than it is entitled to according to its share of the vote in the second ballot, the party retains those seats, and the size of the Bundestag is increased. This was the case in both the 1990 and 1994 federal elections. After the 1990 election, the total number of seats in the Bundestag rose from 656 to 662. In 1994 sixteen extra seats were added, leading to a 672-member Bundestag; twelve of those seats went to Kohl's CDU and accounted for Kohl's ten-seat margin of victory.
• One crucial exception to Germany's system of personalized proportional representation is the so-called 5 percent clause. The electoral law stipulates that a party must receive a minimum of 5 percent of the national vote, or three constituency seats, in order to get any representation in the Bundestag. An exception was made for the first all-Germany election in December 1990, with the Federal Constitutional Court setting separate 5 percent minimums for the old and new Länder. Thus, a party needed only to win 5 percent of the vote in either western or eastern Germany in order to receive seats in the Bundestag.
• The 5 percent clause was crafted to prevent the proliferation of small extremist parties like those that destabilized the Weimar Republic. This electoral hurdle has limited the success of minor parties and consolidated the party system. Often voters are reluctant to vote for a smaller party if they are unsure if it will clear the 5 percent threshold. Smaller parties, such as the FDP, encourage voters to split their ticket, casting their first ballot for a named candidate of one of the larger parties and their second ballot for the FDP.
• Small parties rarely win the three constituency seats that automatically qualify a party for parliamentary representation according to its overall share of the national vote. This rarity occurred in the 1994 national election. The Party of Democratic Socialism (Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus--PDS), the renamed communist party of the former East Germany, won 4.4 percent of the national vote, an insufficient total to clear the 5 percent hurdle. The PDS surprised seemingly everyone, however, by winning four districts outright (all in eastern Berlin), entitling it to thirty seats in the Bundestag.
• Germany holds no by-elections; if Bundestag deputies resign or die in office, they are automatically succeeded by the next candidate on the party's list in the appropriate Land. There are also no primary elections through which voters can choose party representatives. Rather, a small group of official party members nominates constituency candidates, and candidates appearing on the Land party lists are chosen at Land party conventions held six to eight weeks before the election. Party officials at the federal level play no part in the nominating procedure.
• Roughly two-thirds of the candidates run as both constituent and list candidates, thus increasing their chances of winning a legislative seat. If a candidate wins in a constituency, his or her name is automatically removed from the Land list. There is considerable jockeying among party factions and various interest groups as candidates are selected and placed on the Land lists. Placement near the top of the list is usually given to incumbents, party members of particular political prominence, or members who have the support of a key faction or interest group. Thus, aspiring politicians are quite dependent on their party, and successful candidates tend to evince loyalty to the party's policy platform.
• Candidates must be at least twenty-one years old.