The Federal Republic of Germany is a parliamentary democracy.
Federalism
as a
principle
The
legislature
and its
actors
The
federal government
as
executive
- The headquarters of the federal government, the Reichstag building, is located on the Platz der Republik in Berlin.
-
At the beginning of the 20th century, it was anything but predictable
that the
political system of the Federal Republic of Germany would
one day be called a success story.
After the end of the constitutional monarchy and the First World War, the country was
politically and socially badly damaged
by the crises of the
Weimar Republic
and the resulting dictatorship of the
National Socialists
after 1945
.
Crucial and elementary for the political landscape in Germany to this day is the
Basic Law, which
has been
in
force
since
1949
, and which defines the main features of the political order.
The following
summary
gives an overview of the foundations and state organs of the
FRG
.
The political system and parliamentary democracy
The
Federal Republic of Germany
is a
parliamentary democracy
.
To put it simply, this means that the parliament elected by the people, the
German Bundestag
, decides on politics in Germany.
The idea of democracy that governing should be governed by the will of the governed is represented in Germany by the representation of the political will of the majority by the members of the
federal
government.
The MPs act as representatives of the citizens, which is to ensure that “all power comes from the people”.
The political system since the establishment of the FRG
In the first half of the 20th century, Germany went through regime change after regime.
After the end of
World War II
in 1945, a new beginning was to be created.
The
founding of the Federal Republic of
Germany
drew
its conclusions
from the negative events of the recent past
.
The foundation of the
Basic Law
, the
liberal-democratic order of
the Federal Republic of Germany, is on the one hand the consideration of
basic and human rights
, on the other hand the fundamental
constitutional principles
:
democracy
Separation of powers
federalism
Social and rule of law
The essence of the
Basic Law
cannot be changed.
This is determined by the
eternity clause
in Article 79 of the Basic Law.
The above-mentioned principles must not be affected even if the constitution is changed.
The unchangeable articles include Art. 1 GG: “Human dignity is inviolable (…)” and Art. 20 GG, which contains the structural principles of republic, democracy, federal state, constitutional state and welfare state.
The two articles are mutually dependent.
The
rule of law
stipulated in Art. 20
,
which binds all state power to the law, is supplemented by Art. 1 to include the binding of the law to a system of values.
The linked
diagram contains
a
summary of
the constitution of the FRG.
The political system and federalism as a tradition
The definition of
federalism
as a federal
structural principle
goes back to the history of German statehood before the time of National Socialism.
The countries of the
Allied occupation zones
, which merged to form the
Federal Republic of Germany
in 1949
, were for the most part not historically evolved entities.
In accordance with the boundaries of the occupation zones, new countries were created in 1949.
The areas that arose in the Soviet occupation zone were re-established with the fall of the Berlin Wall and accession to the FRG and the scope of the
Basic Law
in
1990
.
A core element of federalism is the so-called
subsidiarity principle
.
This gives the municipalities the right to
self-government
.
A next higher state authority such as the district, the state or the federal government only intervenes regulatively if certain tasks at the lower hierarchical level cannot be mastered.
If possible, problem solving should take place regionally and by decision-makers on site.
The political system - the legislative power
Based on the principle of the
separation of powers
anchored in the Basic Law,
state power in the political system in Germany is divided into different powers and state organs: the
legislature
(legislative), the
executive
(executing) and the
judiciary
(
judiciary
).
Through the
principle of the separation of powers
, the individual powers control each other, state power is limited and abuse is to be prevented.
The center of the
parliamentary system of
the
FRG
is the
parliament
, the
Bundestag
.
Its members are the only ones who are directly elected by the people and thus legitimized.
In the German Bundestag there are various parties that roughly represent a
political spectrum
from
left
to
center
to
right
.
The members of a party form a parliamentary group in parliament.
The tasks of the Bundestag are:
Government
control
Election of the
Federal Chancellor
legislation
Election of judges at the Federal Constitutional Court
Participation in the election of the
Federal President
The political system - the federal election
The members of the Bundestag are
elected directly by the people
every four years
.
The voting must take place in a
general, direct, free, equal and secret
ballot
.
This means that every citizen in the
FRG
with German citizenship and a minimum age of 18 years can cast their vote.
The election is immediate as the MPs are directly elected by the population.
The voters can decide for themselves which candidate they vote for and each vote is weighted equally.
Votes are cast in secret to ensure a free decision.
The
Bundestag election
takes place according to the
personalized proportional representation
.
One part of the MPs is elected from the
electoral lists of
the respective parties.
Depending on how many votes a party has received, the number of MPs that get a seat in the Bundestag results.
The other part is determined by the
constituencies
.
Each federal state is divided into constituencies, in which usually only one candidate can be elected.
The MP with the most votes is allowed to enter Parliament.
There is a so-called “
five percent hurdle
” in
elections to the German Bundestag
.
According to this, a party has to
get
at least
5% of the second votes
nationwide
, otherwise it will not get a seat in parliament.
This regulation is intended to
prevent
the Parliament
from being
too
fragmented
.
The political system - the Federal Council
The
Federal Council
is also known as a
federal constitutional
body.
He represents the interests of the federal states and ensures that these are safeguarded.
The Federal Council is made up of members of the state governments.
On the one hand, these are the
prime ministers
, and on the other, the
specialist ministers
.
In the city-states of Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin, the counterparts are the
Lord Mayors
and
Senators
.
The number of seats in the Federal Council is decided according to the population of the
federal states
.
The tasks of the Federal Council are:
Legislation (in cooperation with the Federal Council)
Review and improvement of existing laws
Control of the federal government's draft laws
The
Bundesrat
is its duties jointly responsible for the policy of the federal government.
The Federal Council has a
right of veto in the
legislative process
.
This enables him to return draft laws to the Bundestag for revision and amendment.
The members of the Bundestag and the same number of members of the 16 state parliaments also meet for the
Federal Assembly
every five years
.
The only task of the Federal Assembly is to elect the
Federal President
.
This is done in a secret ballot without debate for a term of five years with the option of re-election.
The political system - the head of state of the FRG
The
Federal President
is the formal
head of state of
the Federal Republic of Germany.
In this function he has mainly
representative tasks
in the political system of the FRG
.
The tasks of the Federal President include:
formal review, drafting and promulgation of laws
representation of the FRG under international law
Signing international treaties
Appointment and dismissal of federal officials and federal judges
Chancellor proposal to Parliament
Appointment and dismissal of chancellors and federal ministers
Although the Federal President mostly
performs
representative tasks
, he still has a
legal and constitutional control function
.
By examining draft laws for constitutional conformity, albeit only formal, the Federal President controls the Federal Council and the Bundestag.
The political system - head of government
The
Federal Chancellor
is then responsible for the
ultimate
formation of the Federal Government
.
The basic principles of the federal government are laid down in the Basic Law.
Through the
chancellor principle
, the Federal
Chancellor
determines the direction of politics and is responsible for it.
The
departmental principle
allows the
federal
ministers
to
manage their
ministries
independently and on their own responsibility
.
The
collegial principle
stipulates that the Federal Government decides in the event of differences of opinion between ministers.
The Basic Law assigns the Federal Chancellor a strong role in the political structure.
Policy competence
of government policy
Proposal of candidates for ministerial offices
Formation of the
Federal Cabinet
Management of government affairs
In the
event of a defense
: authority and command over the
armed forces
Detailed and further information as well as
teaching material
about the political system of the FRG can be ordered from the Federal Agency for Civic Education as a
book
or
magazine,
sometimes free of charge.