How Have Politics in Germany Made the Country a World Power?

The German politics have brought forth many pressing issues that Germany has to address. Among the many issues are the role and influence that Germany should have in the European Union. The German economy is still slowly recovering and the issue of welfare and a declining population must be dealt with. There is also a problem with the Guest Workers who take away jobs from German people and the ethnic clashes with the Turkish people in Germany.

Germany is governed by Basic law which has positions for the chancellor, the symbolic president, a bicameral legislature and a court system. Germany also uses a system of federalism. The bicameral legislature has a lower and an upper house. The lower house is called the Bundestag and the upper is called the Bundesrat. The Bundesrat has 656 members and uses a 2 ballot system. The first ballot is done by a Single Member district plurality. The second ballot is done by proportional representation and by voters designating the party of their choice. A constructive Vote of no Confidence can be passed in which new elections must be held 14 days afterwards. This happended twice during the 1970s. Finally there is a question hour which is similar to the question hour in England. The chancellor stands in front of the Bundestag and has to answer tough questions. The election system determines the number of seats for each party in the Bundestag. This also results in direct elections with elections from a party list.

The Bundesrat has 69 members and the mmebers are appointed according to the amount of people in each area. The largest Lander gets to have 6 delegates while the other landers have between 3-5 delegates. Domestic legislation with the exception of foreign policy and national defense is decided on.

The executive branch is made up of the chancellor who has a lot of power and responsibilities and a symbolic president. The chancellor answers to Parliament and he also serves as the head of the majority party in power. The chancellor plus the cabinet make up the government. A vote of no confidence can also be passed against him which is a check against the chancellor. The role of the president is symbolic. He has 5 year terms and cannot serve for more than 2 terms.

The federal Constitutional Court has the power of judicial review. It also interprets Basic Law. It settles disputes between land governments and disputes between the federal government and landers. The court has 16 members which are all elected. Eight are elected by the Bundestag and the other 8 are elected by the Bundesrat. The issues that the court deal with are civil rights an intergovernmental relations. The rest of the judiciary is administered by the Lander. In Germany there is only 1 unitary law, not 50 like in the U.S. states.

The German bureaucracy is very similiar to France in that it is very effective. It is made up of 17 ministries, political appointees, senior civil servants, upper middle servants, intermediate civil servants and lower civil servants.

The political parties in Germany include the Christian Demoratic Union, Social Democratic Party, Free Democratic Party, Green Party, Communists or Democratic Socialists, and Neo-Nazis. There are also several pressure groups in Germany which hold power and influence. These groups include the Federation of German Business, Federation of German Employment Association and the German Industrial and Trade Conference. Labor groups include the German Federation of Labor which discusses key issues like co-determination and neocorporatism.

Germany must also deal with key issues like the concept of German nationalism. This includes race, language and blood.

The educational system in Germany is one of the best in the world but is creates defined class differences. The educational system is broken down into 3 tracks: Gymnasium for college prep, Vocational/Technical, and a combination of Academic and Vocational school. The mixed school creates a class of lwoer echelon white collar workers.