Germany 1

Germany 1 - Transcript

Chapter 1 Germany
John Bendix

Germany
Introduction The Difficult Path to Democracy Political Institutions Elections and Parties Land der Mitte Germany in Europe Germany in the World Key Contemporary Issues

The Difficult Path to Democracy
From fragmentation 1815 to unification under Bismarck 1871 to World War 1 From Weimar Republic parliamentary democracy 1918 to Hitler s Third Reich 1933 From defeat in 1945 to division into West Germany and East Germany USSR control of Eastern Europe ends in late1980s leading to unification of Germany

Political institutions
Political institutions influenced by occupying Allies and post war German politicians Chancellor is head of government President is largely symbolic head of state Lower house Bundestag oversees government functions Upper house Bundesrat legislative oversight on behalf of Germany s 16 states Federal Constitutional Court has power of judicial review

Grundgesetz
Grundgesetz aims to ensure the mistakes of Third Reich are not repeated
Lower house can only pass constructive vote of no confidence Art 67 Parties seeking to overturn democracy are unconstitutional Art 21 2 War making unconstitutional Art 26

Elections and Parties
Germany has a mixed member proportional electoral system which combines plurality and PR Germany moving from a two and ahalf party system to a multiparty system Recent rise of Green Party and PDS

German Bundestag Elections Since 1990 in percentage of second votes obtained
1990 CDU CS U S PD FDP Gre e ns PDS Left Party Othe r 43 8 33 5 11 0 3 8 2 4 1994 41 5 36 4 6 9 7 3 4 4 1998 35 1 40 9 6 2 6 7 5 1 2002 38 5 38 5 7 4 8 6 4 0 2005 35 2 34 3 9 8 8 1 8 7

5 5

3 9

5 9

3 0

3 9

Land der Mitte Germany in Europe
Germany has historically seen itself as being in and of the middle both geographically and politically Oscillated between different political and economic models and between looking East and West Socio economic policies have been cautious cooperative and compromising Germany also plays central role with France in driving European integration

Germany in the World
Germany keen to play cautious and modest role in international politics Germany finds it difficult to adapt to globalization
Middle sized firms slow to shift to low cost production sites Rising welfare costs especially pensions Over regulated labour markets Inflexible manufacturing sector

Key contemporary issues
Integration of East and West Germany still an issue Still struggling to define its international role How to deal with Germany s ageing population whilst retaining the social compact