There are quite a few new members to 4th Kingdom that have varied interests and ideas to discuss but don't always have access to the proper boards yet in which to introduce their interests. The Blot is coming to their rescue! Here is an article describing the history, structure, and current events concerning Germany's government:
The German Government
by Garefrekes_Fan
Introduction
The date is May 23rd 1949 and in Germany something extraordinary is happening. The Grundgesetz (Basic Law) has officially come into effect granting numerous human rights, protection of individual liberty, and setting up what will become Germany's government. The new German state, Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany), has been born.
Germany is a federal parliamentary representative democracy, its powers are separated into executive, legislative, and judicial branches much like the United States. However that is where the similarities end. To the person just dipping their toes into German politics, the government system can seem very daunting. Once you get past the lavish descriptions, it's a fascinating subject to not only study, but follow.
The Grundgesetz
The Basic Law was approved on May 8th 1949 and came into affect on May 23rd 1949. It consists of a preamble, basic rights, a part concerning stately organization and the principles of justice.
The basic rights include civil and human rights especially human dignity, personal freedom, equality before law and equal rights between men and women, the freedom of faith, conscience, and creed, the freedom of expression, information, press, broadcasting, art and science, protection of marriage and family, education, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, privacy of correspondence, posts, and telecommunications, freedom of movement, occupational freedom and prohibition of forced labor, compulsory military or alternative service, inviolability of the home, right of property, inheritance, and expropriation, socialization, citizenship and extradition, right of asylum, right of petition, forfeiture of basic rights, and restriction of basic rights.
The Grundgesetz can only be amended by a two thirds majority of the members of the Bundestag and Bundesrat.
Federal Executive Branch
The executive branch, which includes the Bundesregierung (federal council), is headed by the Bundeskanzler (federal chancellor). He/she is elected by the Bundestag (Germany's parliament) and thus is responsible for the Bundestag (federal Diet). The Chancellor is in office for a four year term and can only be removed by a Constructive Vote of No Confidence which requires a majority vote of the Bundestag. The successor also has to have a majority vote. There have only been three Constructive Votes of No Confidence, 1972, 1982, and 2005. Only the one in 1985 was successful when Helmut Schmidt was voted out of office to be replaced on Helmut Kohl.
The Chancellor for the most part has always been candidate of the largest political party, with the support of two or three other parties and a majority vote by the Bundestag. The Chancellor in turn appoints a Vice Chancellor, a member of his/her cabinet most usually the Foreign Minister. If a coalition government is taking place the Vice Chancellor is a member of the smaller political party of the coalition.
The Bundesregierung (federal cabinet) is the chief executive body of Germany. It consists of the Chancellor and the cabinet ministers. The Chancellor guides the cabinet, decided what direction policies will take and bears the responsibility for said policies. The cabinet members have to follow the Chancellor's directive but are free to do their duties independently. Majority vote rules in cases where two ministers disagree on any one particular point. The Chancellor is also responsible for the administrative affairs.
The Bundespräsident (federal president) is the head of state and is mostly a ceremonial position. The President is elected every five years on May 23rd by a special body which convenes for this one purpose. The body is composed of the entire Bundestag and an equally selected number of state delegates chosen just for this purpose.
Legislative Branch
Germany's parliament has two chambers which consist of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat (federal council).
The Bundesrat is the representation of the sixteen federal states. Its members are not elected by popular vote or state representatives. They are normally members of state cabinets which appoint them and thus can remove them at any time. The states are not represented by an equal number of delegates; the population of the state is a relative factor. The chairperson or speaker is the Bundesratpräsident (President of the Bundesrat). The role of President rotates annually among the minister-presidents of the sixteen states. The President convenes and chairs plenary sessions of the council and is responsible for the representation of the Federal Republic in the Bundesrat. He/she is aide by the vice presidents who advise and stand in in the President's absence. The legislature has the power of exclusive jurisdiction and concurrent jurisdiction with the states in areas specially enumerated by the Basic Law. The necessity for the Bundesrat to agree on legislation is limited to bills having to do with revenue shared by federal and state governments and those imposing responsibilities on the states.
The Bundestag has at least 598 members, 299 elected in single seat constituencies and 299 allocated from state party lists so that there is an equal level in the legislature. Citizens vote once for a constituency representative and a second time for a party. Members serve four year terms and elections are every four years. The Bundestag are the only members elected by the public. A party must have 5% of the vote or at least three direct deputies to be in the Bundestag. For the most part they assess and amend the government's legislative program. Various committees play a large role in this process. Plenary sessions provide a chance for the members to debate issues that are at hand. Currently the seats by party are:
CDU and CSU - 224 seats including 6 overhang seats (36.6%)
SPD - 222 seats including 9 overhang seats (36.2%)
FDP - 61 seats (9.9%)
The Left - 54 seats (8.6%)
Alliance '90/Greens - 51 seats (8.3%)
Independents - 2 seats (.3%)
A brief explanation of the major parties:
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) - Non denominational, Christian based party applying the principles of Christian Democracy. The CDU believes that mankind has a responsibility to God to in upholding Christian ideals and caring for the environment. They support freedom and dignity of all persons including equal rights for men, women, and the disabled.
Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) - Operates exclusively in Bavaria. Its sister party is the CDU. More socially conservative of the two parties.
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) - Oldest and largest party. Advocates modernization of the economy to meet the demands of globalization but all stresses the need to address the social needs of workers and the disadvantaged.
Free Democratic Party (FDP) - Ideology combines beliefs in state or government "that is as small as possible and as large as necessary". Promotes a market economy.
The Left - Aims for democratic socialism. Includes many different factions from Communists to left leaning social democrats. Wants a minimum wage to be introduced. Opposes all forms of militarism in the current political climate and market oriented policies of the European Union. Strives for democratization of the EU and a stronger role for the United Nations in international politics.
Alliance '90/The Greens - One of the oldest and most politically successful of the world's green parties.
Judicial Branch
The Bundesverfassungsgericht, Federal Constitutional Court, is the protector of the Grundgesetz. It can declare statues as null and void if they happen to violate the Grundgesetz. This is similar to the United States' Supreme Court. It also handles other procedures that include state institution disputes over their constitutional powers. The Bundesverfassungsgericht is separated into two Senates each containing eight members headed by a Senate chairman. Each Chamber consists of three judges. Decisions by a Senate must have a majority vote; decisions by a Chamber must be unanimous. A Chamber cannot overrule a standing precedent of a Senate it belongs to while a Senate cannot overrule a standing precedent of the other Senate. The Bundesverfassungsgericht's judges are elected by the Bundesrat and Bundestag and are elected for twelve years. A judge must be at least forty years old, a well trained jurist, and be retired by sixty eight years old. Three of eight members of the Senate must have served as a judge for a Federal Supreme Court.
The ordinary judicial branch deals with civil and criminal cases and is made of four levels of courts, the highest being the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice). There are distinct branches for administrative, tax, labor, and social security issues. Each has their own hierarchy. Courts are usually state courts except the highest courts of each branch which are federal courts.
In the News
Like any other government, there are plenty of scandals and bad dealings going around the German government, from the foreign intelligence agency spying on a German journalist and Afghan politician to the discovery of employee surveillance by many German companies.
One of the big concerns is that the German government is failing to find a solution to the world's food shortage. Instead they are focusing more on their own projects, pointing their fingers at each other instead of working together to ease the suffering of those in developing countries. At a recent parliamentary debate on the issue most ministers were not in attendance. Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) seemed to follow the debate on the world food crisis with much attention. Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler, also from the SPD, let his head fall sleepily to his chest. Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) decided to text on his mobile phone. The World Trade Organization conference on the matter is scheduled for May 19th and the German government only has until then to a unified front on how it's going to do its part in dealing with the food crisis. So far there is little to indicate that the government will agree to a comprehensive strategy. For that to happen, the Development Minister would have to admit that she has done too little for the world's small farmers. The Agriculture Minister would have to acknowledge that he is responsible for nutrition throughout the world, and not only within Germany. And the Environment Minister would have to realize that there are other crises in the world besides global warming.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Germany
http://www.bundesregierung.de/
http://en.jurispedia.org/index.php/Introduction_to_the_basic_and_the_constitutional_law_%28de%29
http://www.spiegel.de