Chapter 1 Germany

1
Chapter 1Germany

• John Bendix

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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

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The Difficult Path to Democracy

• From fragmentation (1815) to unification under
  Bismarck (1871) to World War 1
• From Weimar Republic (parliamentary democracy)
  (1918) to Hitlers Third Reich (1933)
• From defeat in 1945 to division into West Germany
  and East Germany.
• USSR control of Eastern Europe ends in
  late-1980s, leading to unification of Germany

4
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 Germanys 16 states
• Federal Constitutional Court has power of
  judicial review

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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)

6
Elections and Parties

• Germany has a mixed-member proportional electoral
  system, which combines plurality and PR
• Germany moving from a two-and-a-half party
  system to a multiparty system
• Recent rise of Green Party and PDS

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German Bundestag Elections Since 1990 (in
percentage of second votes obtained)
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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

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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

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Key contemporary issues

• Integration of East and West Germany still an
  issue
• Still struggling to define its international role
• How to deal with Germanys ageing population,
  whilst retaining the social compact?