Politics of Germany

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The political system of Germany.

Germany is a federal parliamentary republic, and federal legislative power is vested in the Bundestag (the parliament of Germany) and the Bundesrat (the representative body of the Länder, Germany's regional states).

There is a multi-party system that, since 1949, has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system is laid out in the 1949 constitution, the Grundgesetz (Basic Law), which remained in effect with minor amendments after German reunification in 1990.





In 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic unified and became one country under the name and constitution of the former. The Government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl remained in place with some additions from the former DDR.


Gerhard Schröder in the 2002 elections
Joschka Fischer in the 2005 elections

After 16 years of the Christian–Liberal coalition, led by Helmut Kohl, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) together with the Greens won the elections of 1998. SPD vice chairman Gerhard Schröder positioned himself as a centrist candidate, in contradiction to the leftist SPD chairman Oskar Lafontaine. The Kohl government was hurt at the polls by slower economic growth in the east in the previous two years, and constantly high unemployment. The final margin of victory was sufficiently high to permit a "red-green" coalition of the SPD with Alliance '90/The Greens (Bündnis '90/Die Grünen), bringing the Greens into a national government for the first time.





Chancellor since 2005: Angela Merkel of the Christian Democrats




Whereas in May and June 2005 victory of the Christian Democrats seemed highly likely, with some polls giving them an absolute majority, this picture changed shortly before the election at 18 September 2005.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, current foreign affairs minister, was the Social Democrat candidate for chancellor in 2009

The election results of 18 September were surprising because they differed widely from the polls of the previous weeks. The Christian Democrats lost votes compared to 2002, reaching only 35.2%, and failed to get a majority for a "black–yellow" government of CDU/CSU and liberal FDP. But the red–green coalition also failed to get a majority, with the SPD losing votes, but polling 34.2% and the greens staying at 8.1%. The Left reached 8.7% and entered the Bundestag, whereas the NPD only got 1.6%.[2]

The most likely outcome of coalition talks was a so-called grand coalition between the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD). Three party coalitions and coalitions involving The Left have been ruled out by all interested parties (including The Left itself). On 22 November 2005, Angela Merkel was sworn in by president Horst Köhler for the office of Bundeskanzlerin.

The existence of the grand coalition on federal level helped smaller parties' electoral prospects in state elections. Since in 2008, the CSU lost its absolute majority in Bavaria and formed a coalition with the FDP, the grand coalition had no majority in the Bundesrat and depended on FDP votes on important issues. In November 2008, the SPD re-elected Franz Müntefering as its chair and made Frank-Walter Steinmeier its leading candidate for the federal election in September 2009.

As a result of that federal election, the grand coalition came to an end. The SPD suffered the heaviest losses in its history and was unable to form a coalition government. The CDU/CSU was rather stable. The three smaller parties thus have more seats in the German Bundestag than ever before, with the liberal party FDP winning 14.6% of votes.


Seats in the Bundestag 2009
Sigmar Gabriel: SPD chairman from 2009–2013, 2013–present vice-chancellor


Since their electoral defeat, the Social Democrats have been led by the new party chairman Sigmar Gabriel, a former federal minister and state prime minister, and by Frank-Walter Steinmeier as the head of the parliamentary group. The Greens and The Left both suffer from some internal frictions. It is difficult to tell what the SPD defeat in federal politics means for the state elections:[citation needed] both big parties did well in some but not in others. Since 2011 the Greens have their first prime minister, the one of Baden-Württemberg, in a Green–SPD government.


2013 - present[edit]

The allocation of seats in the German Bundestag after 2013 elections

The 18th federal elections in Germany have been succeeded by the renewed re-election of Angela Merkel and her parliamentary group of the parties CDU and CSU, reaching 41.5% of all votes. Their former coalition partner FDP did not reach 5% and thereby not gaining any seats in the Bundestag.[4]

Not having reached an absolute majority the CDU/CSU had to find another partner. After long coalition talks they formed a grand coalition together with the social-democratic SPD, making the head of the party Sigmar Gabriel vice-chancellor and federal minister of economics and energy. Together they hold 504 of a total 631 seats (CDU/CSU 311 & SPD 193). The only two opposition parties are The Left (64 seats) and Alliance '90/The Greens (63 seats).[5]




Head of state[edit]

Main article: President of Germany
Joachim Gauck – the 11th president of Germany.

In Germany's parliamentary system of government the Federal Chancellor runs the government and the politics of the day. However, the German President has a role which is more than ceremonial. The Federal President, by their actions and public appearances, represents the state itself, its existence, its legitimacy, and unity. The President's office involves an integrative role and the control function of upholding the law and the constitution. It has also a "political reserve function" for times of crisis in the parliamentary system of government.[7] The Federal President gives direction to general political and societal debates and has some important "reserve powers" in case of political instability (such as those provided for by Article 81 of the Basic Law).[8] Under Article 59 (1) of the Basic Law (German Constitution), the Federal President represents the Federal Republic of Germany in matters of international law, concludes treaties with foreign states on its behalf and accredits diplomats.[9] All federal laws must be signed by the President before they can come into effect; the president does not have a veto, but the conditions for refusing to sign a law on the basis of unconstitutionality are the subject of debate.[10]

Head of government[edit]

Chancellery in Berlin


The Chancellor cannot be removed from office during a four-year term unless the Bundestag has agreed on a successor. This constructive vote of no confidence is intended to avoid the situation of the Weimar Republic in which the executive did not have enough support in the legislature to govern effectively, but the legislature was too divided to name a successor.

Except in the periods 1969–72 and 1976–82, when the Social Democratic party of Chancellor Brandt and Schmidt came in second in the elections, the Chancellor has always been the candidate of the largest party, usually supported by a coalition of two parties with a majority in the parliament. One of the ministers the Chancellor appoints is the Vice-Chancellor (Vizekanzler). This office itself is hardly important but often indicates who is the main cabinet member of the smaller coalition partner.


Main article: Cabinet of Germany

The German Cabinet (Bundeskabinett or Bundesregierung) is the chief executive body of the federal republic of Germany. It consists of the chancellor and the cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's organization are set down in articles 62–69 of the Basic Law.


Main articles: Bundestag and Bundesrat of Germany




Seat of the Bundestag




Main article: Judiciary of Germany
Constitutional court in Karlsruhe

The judicial system comprises three types of courts.


Foreign relations[edit]

Germany is a member of the European Union and the Eurozone.



West Germany became a NATO member in 1955. (Defense ministers in 2000)



The governments of Germany and the United States are close political allies.[16] The 1948 Marshall Plan and strong cultural ties have crafted a strong bond between the two countries, although Schröder's very vocal opposition to the Iraq War suggested the end of Atlanticism and a relative cooling of German–American relations.[17] The two countries are also economically interdependent: 8.8% of German exports are US-bound and 6.6% of German imports originate from the US.[18] Other signs of the close ties include the continuing position of German–Americans as the largest ethnic group in the US.[19] and the status of Ramstein Air Base (near Kaiserslautern) as the largest US military community outside the US.[20]


Administrative divisions[edit]

Main article: States of Germany

Germany comprises sixteen states that are collectively referred to as Länder.[23] Due to differences in size and population the subdivision of these states varies, especially between city states (Stadtstaaten) and states with larger territories (Flächenländer). For regional administrative purposes five states, namely Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, consist of a total of 22 Government Districts (Regierungsbezirke). As of 2009 Germany is divided into 403 districts (Kreise) on municipal level, these consist of 301 rural districts and 102 urban districts.[24]

State Capital Area (km²) Population
Baden-Württemberg Stuttgart 35,752 10,717,000
Bavaria Munich 70,549 12,444,000
Berlin Berlin 892 3,400,000
Brandenburg Potsdam 29,477 2,568,000
Bremen Bremen 404 663,000
Hamburg Hamburg 755 1,735,000
Hessen Wiesbaden 21,115 6,098,000
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Schwerin 23,174 1,720,000
Lower Saxony Hanover 47,618 8,001,000
North Rhine-Westphalia Düsseldorf 34,043 18,075,000
Rhineland-Palatinate Mainz 19,847 4,061,000
Saarland Saarbrücken 2,569 1,056,000
Saxony Dresden 18,416 4,296,000
Saxony-Anhalt Magdeburg 20,445 2,494,000
Schleswig-Holstein Kiel 15,763 2,829,000
Thuringia Erfurt 16,172 2,355,000

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Arbeitslose und Arbeitslosenquote 
  2. ^ Official election results
  5. ^ http://www.bundestag.de/bundestag/plenum/sitzverteilung18.html
  6. ^ http://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/rechtsgrundlagen/grundgesetz/index.html Deutscher Bundestag: Grundgesetz] (German)
  7. ^ Website of the Federal President of Germany [1] Retrieved 13 April 2014
  8. ^ "Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany". Gesetze-im-internet.de. Retrieved 2012-11-22. 
  9. ^ Website of the Federal President of Germany [2] Retrieved 28 April 2014
  11. ^ German Missions Abroad German Federal Foreign Office. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
  12. ^ Declaration by the Franco-German Defence and Security Council Elysee.fr 13 May 3004. Retrieved 3 December 2006.
  14. ^ Harrison, Hope. The Berlin Wall, Ostpolitik and Détente PDF (91.1 KB) German historical institute, Washington, DC, Bulletin supplement 1, 2004, American détente and German ostpolitik, 1969–1972".
  18. ^ U.S.-German Economic Relations Factsheet PDF (32.8 KB) U.S. Embassy in Berlin. May 2006. Retrieved 3 December 2006.
  19. ^ German Still Most Frequently Reported Ancestry U.S. Census Bureau 30 June 2004. Retrieved 3 December 2006. Archived May 15, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ Kaiserslautern, Germany Overview U.S. Military. Retrieved 3 December 2006.
  22. ^ Table: Net Official Development Assistance 2009 OECD

External links[edit]