Germany

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Germany
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CHARACTERISTICS

• Affluent Economy (despite the disequilibria
  between the Eastern and the Western parts of the
  country)
• Unstable territorial limits
• Divided between 1945 and 1990.
• Difficult but successful unification process.

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HISTORY

• First Reich Charlemagne (800 AD)
• Religious divisions (Protestant Reformation 1517-
  Southern Germany remains Catholic, while the
  North shifts to Protestantism).
• Different regional versions of spoken German
• The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) destroyed an
  emerging middle class
• 1648 the Treaty of Westphalia divides Germany
  into 360 political entities

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From Napoleon to Bismark (1806-1871)

• Bonapartes occupation forced the creation of a
  confederation (30 states governed by the same
  codified laws)
• Frances defeat (1815)
• Congress of Vienna ? Confederacy of 41 states?
  Privileged concessions to Prussia (land)
• ? Hohenzollern monarchy Junkers
• ? Elimination of trade barriers
  Industrial development (iron and steel)Working
  Class
• Industrial Feudal Society
• ? 1848 Wave of anti-monarchical revolutionary
  movements throughout EuropeFailed Democratic
  Revolution in Germany

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Second Reich(1871, after the Franco-Prussian war)

• Chancellor Otto von Bismark (divided executive
  Chancellor/Kaiser or emperor)
• Weak liberal and democratic traditions
  (neutralization of the Reichstag, Bundesrat
  controlled by Junkers)
• Oppositional groupsSPD (Social Democratic
  Party), 1875. Oldest social- democratic party in
  the world.
• Non-German minorities and small ethnic parties
• German Catholics (turned into the Christian
  Democratic Party later on)

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Problems associated with the Late unification of
Germany.

• Difficulties to developing a modern state
• Nationalism and militarism
• Authoritarian culture
• Expansionism (Colonization in Africa) and
  engagement in wars, until WWI in 1914
• Dramatic defeat - The Versailles Treaty blamed
  Germany for the war, took out its colonies, and
  imposed the country impossible reparations
• See Maps

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1919 The Weimar Republic

• The Kaiser was removed
• Modern Democratic Republic
• Weak parliamentary democracy with popular
  election of the president
• The president could dismiss the chancellor,
  dissolve the parliament and had emergency powers
• No effective mechanisms to enforce peoples
  rights
• Lack of democratic traditions, lack of legitimacy
  (imposed by the victorious allies), catastrophic
  economic situation (1920s hyperinflation)

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1920s Growth of Nazism

• 1924- The Nazis, a very small partyIncreasing
  political instability
• 1929 Depression
• 1932. The Nazis win a third of the German vote,
  and President Hindenburg names Hitler as
  chancellor on January 1933

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The Third Reich

• After the burning of the Reichstag in February
  and a Nazi electoral victory in March,
• The Nazi Party establishes a legislative majority
  and passes legislation for Hitler to rule by
  decree for 40 years? Third Reich
• Expansionism (Saar, Czech lands, Poland)
• 1939 Britain and France declared war
• Summer 1940 - Germany ruled over almost all of
  Europe.
• 1941 Final Solution Death Camps (six million
  Jews and a similar amount of inconvenient
  Christians (Gipsies, Poles, others) plus
  leftists and homosexuals were annihilated.
• 1945- The Allies win the war

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A Divided Germany

• February 1945, Postdam the Allies divide Germany
  (and Berlin) into four military occupation zones
• Denazification and Democratization
• Britain, France, and the U.S. combine their zones
  and create the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)
  in May 1949.
• Self-governed since 1949. Chancellor Adenauer
  (1949-1963) (CDU). German miracle
• The Soviets create the German Democratic Republic
  (GDR) in October 1949.
• Modern Germany resulted from foreign intervention.

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Basic Law

• Created in 1949 as a temporal document
• In 1990, it became the German Constitution
• Amended several times
• Three Principles
• Germany is a Federal Republic
• Germany is a State based on the rule of law
  (militant democracy)
• Germany guarantees the social welfare of its
  citizens (individuals in community Social
  welfare is seen as naturally provided by the
  State)

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Basic Law

• Political Freedom requires the acceptance of
  political obligation (neither activities nor
  associations can be directed against the
  constitutional order)

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Strengthening Institutions

• Incorporation of many checks and balances within
  the political system
• Diffusion of power within a federal framework
• The primacy of the rule of law means that the
  decisions of parliamentary majorities are subject
  to review by the Federal Constitutional

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Phases

• Federal Republic of Germany
• 1949-1969 Adenauer other Christian Democratic
  leaders/ Economic miracle/Parliamentary
  System/Social Welfare Constitution economic
  growth stability success
• 1969-1982Social Democrats (Willy Brandt
• 1982-1990 CDU/ the Green Party

• German Democratic Republic
• 1949-1961-Socialism (the Berlin Wall)
• 1961-1970 (greater material benefits/GDR becomes
  a socialist State)
• 1971-1985 (starts opening and relies increasingly
  on the West)
• 1985-1989liberalization and attempts to
  reunification

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Problems of Reunification

• October 3, 1990 (Dissolution of the GDR and
  unification of Germany)
• Imbalance (all of the FRG institutions prevail)
• Difficult economic integration of a former
  socialized economy into the market
• Economic and social problems
• Westeners felt they had to pay for the
  integration
• Easteners did not feel their situation improved
  (many lost their property/jobs)
• Xenophobia and resurrection of neo-nazism
  (problem solved in 1992/3)

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Enlarging the Social Market Economy (195)

• Christian Neo-Liberal synthesis
• Attempt to balance the inequalities resulting
  from the market
• Comprehensive Welfare System
• Protection of the population through guaranteeing
  standards
• Still, there are large disparities (between
  Westeners and Easteners, gender, class)

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German Strong Federalism

• 16 Länder education, police, mass media
  (imbalance)
• Different versions of spoken German in the
  regions
• Federal legislative powers
• State level organized Administration and Justice
  system

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GERMAN POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS

• Head of State the President (five years,
  two-term limit), chosen by a Special Federal
  Convention (members of the Federal Assembly
  delegates sent by state parliaments). Ceremonial
  (since July 2004, Horst Koehler)
• Head of Government the Chancellor, elected by
  the Bundestag for four yearsPowerful. Selects
  all cabinet members (approx 20, head committees
  in the Bundestag) (Gerhard Schroeder since 1998)
• (Constructive vote of no confidence the
  Bundestag may dismiss a chancellor only if a
  successor is designated)
• -The Chancellors Office (Chief of Staff
  competes with the cabinet)

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Bicameral legislature

• Bundestag the parliament of a parliamentary
  system of government. 656 members (now 669
  603?) 4-year term. Largest parliament among
  democracies. (Fraktionen, or parliamentary
  parties mirror the Committee system? 23 standing
  committees)
• Bundesrat (upper house) elected indirectly,
  represents the interest of the Länder. Gvts. of
  the Länder (regions) send members to choose
  representatives. Increasing power.

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Multi-Party System.

•    Two-Plus or Two and one-half party system
  German governments almost always consist of one
  large party in coalition with one small party
• Traditional Parties
• Christian Democratic Union ( Christian Social
  Union)
• Social Democratic Party
• Free Democratic Party
• (72.1 in 1949, 98 in 1980, 90.4 in 1987)
• New Parties
• The Greens (1983)
• Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)

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Last election for the Federal Assembly (September
2002)

• SPD 38.5 (251 seats)
• CDU/CSU 38.5 (248 seats)
• Alliance '90/Greens 8.6 (55 seats)
• FDP 7.4 (47 seats)
• PDS 4 (2 seats)

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The German electoral system

• Mixed system, combination of single-member
  districts and proportional representation (5
  threshold unevenly implemented)
• Goals Plurality Stability
• Two Ballots Voters vote for
• An individual candidate and
• A party list
• For the Bundestag ½ through SMD (328), ½ through
  PR. PR votes determine of seats. The number of
  seats that each party receives is determined by
  the percentage of votes they win in an election
• Corrective mechanism candidates directly elected
  automatically win their seats.

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The Judiciary

• -Rechstaat or law state.
• -Uniformed and integrated Judiciary (more than
  20,000 judges) as strong as the American Court
  system. In both the U.S. and Germany the Supreme
  Court reviews the constitutionality of laws
• Federal Constitutional Court
• 2 Chambers or Senates (8 justices each, chosen
  for one 12-year term).
• Roman Law (codified)

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New Problems

• Aging population
• High (structural) unemployment
• Unfinished unification
• Multiethnic and multi-religious (Catholics,
  Lutherans, now also Muslim) society (arrival of
  immigrants since the 1950s), many of them Turkish
  
• Until 1993 generous policy of political asylum.
  Its limitation generated the Asylum controversy
  
• Challenge?Assimilation of immigrants
• Redefinition of Germanys international role
  after the consolidation of the EU

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State Administration

• Decentralized Federalism (5 levels)
• 5 Levels
• National
• Land
• Administrative Districts
• Counties
• Independent cities