Germany

Politics

National government {{main | Politics of Germany}}

Germany is a constitutional federal republic, whose political system is laid out in the 1949 constitution called Grundgesetz (Basic Law). It has a parliamentary system in which the head of government, the Chancellor, is elected by the parliament.

Related Topics:
Republic - 1949 - ''Grundgesetz'' - Parliamentary system - Head of government - Chancellor

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Head of state - The function of head of state is performed by the Federal President. A president is elected every five years by the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung), which is made up by the members of the Parliament plus the corresponding number of state representatives. The powers of the Federal President are mostly limited to ceremonial and representative duties, but the signature of the President is required for laws to become effective.

Related Topics:
Head of state - Federal President - Bundesversammlung

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Parliament - The German legislature consists of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. The supreme legislative body is the Bundestag (Federal Diet), the parliament, which is elected every four years. It in turn elects the Chancellor.

Related Topics:
Bundestag - Bundesrat

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The Bundesrat (Federal Council) represents the 16 federal states and cooperates in law-making and administering the federation, its 69 members are representatives of each state's government. The number of votes each state has depends roughly on the state's population. Since the Bundesrat has to agree to the decisions of the Bundestag in a large number of legislative topics, there has lately been much concern about the two blocking each other whenever party majorities differ in the two bodies, making effective legislation difficult, if not impossible.

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Legal system {{main|Judiciary of Germany}}

Germany has a civil or statute law system based ultimately on Roman law. Legislative power is divided between the Federation and the individual federated states. While criminal law and private law have seen codifications on the national level (in the Strafgesetzbuch and the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch respectively), no such unifying codification exists in administrative law where a lot of the fundamental matters remain in the jurisdiction of the individual federated states. There are a series of specialist supreme courts; for civil and criminal cases the highest court of appeal is the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice), located in Karlsruhe. The courtroom style is inquisitorial.

Related Topics:
Civil or statute law system - Roman law - Criminal law - Private law - Strafgesetzbuch - Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch - Administrative law - Bundesgerichtshof - Karlsruhe - Inquisitorial

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The Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), also located in Karlsruhe, is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of judicial review. It acts as the highest legal authority and ensures that legislative and judicial practice conforms with the Basic Law. It acts independently of the other state bodies but cannot act on its own behalf.

Related Topics:
Bundesverfassungsgericht - Judicial review - Basic Law

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Foreign relations {{main|Foreign relations of Germany}}

Together with France, Germany plays a leading role in the European Union. Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking to advance the creation of a more unified and capable European political, defence and security apparatus.

Related Topics:
France - European Union

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Since its establishment on 23 May, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany kept a notably low profile in international relations. In 1999, however, on the occasion of the NATO war against Yugoslavia, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government broke convention by sending German troops into combat for the first time since World War II.

Related Topics:
23 May - 1949 - 1999 - NATO war against Yugoslavia - Chancellor Gerhard Schröder - World War II

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In 2003, Germany and France were leaders in the coalition of nations opposing the US-led war in Iraq. Nevertheless, the German government has offered help to the reconstruction efforts in Iraq, but only outside of the war-torn country, mainly by training Iraqi military and police personnel.

Related Topics:
2003 - US - War in Iraq - Iraq

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Together with Japan, India, and Brazil, Germany is currently seeking a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Related Topics:
Japan - India - Brazil - UN Security Council

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Armed Forces

Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is a defence force with Heer (Army), Deutsche Marine (Navy), Luftwaffe (Air Force), Zentraler Sanitätsdienst (Central Medical Services) and Streitkräftebasis (Joint Service Support Command) branches. It employs some 250,000 personnel, 50,000 of whom are 18-23-year-old men on national duty for currently at least 9 months. In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defence, currently Peter Struck (since 2002). If Germany is at war, the Chancellor becomes commander in chief of the German 'Bundeswehr'.

Related Topics:
Bundeswehr - Heer - Deutsche Marine - Luftwaffe - Peter Struck - 2002

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The military budget has not kept up with the Bundeswehr's mission, which has changed dramatically from protecting Germany's borders against a Soviet invasion into a mobile unit deployed around the world. The funding levels for the Bundeswehr have actually been falling since 1990, when military spending amounted to about 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product. Today, defence spending equals about 1.6 per cent of German GDP, compared to the NATO average of 2.1 per cent and the United States' 3 per cent. Critics argue that the current budget of ?24.4 billion is too small to finance the necessary transformation of the Bundeswehr into a well-equipped force ready for NATO and UN led missions abroad.

Related Topics:
Soviet - 1990 - NATO - United States - UN

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Currently, the German military has about 1,180 troops stationed in Bosnia-Herzegovina; 2,650 Bundeswehr soldiers are serving in Kosovo; 3,900 Bundeswehr troops are assisting the US anti-terrorism operation called Enduring Freedom off the Horn of Africa. In Afghanistan, 4,500 German troops currently make up the largest contingent of the NATO-led ISAF force.

Related Topics:
Bosnia-Herzegovina - Kosovo - US - Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan - ISAF

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Energy policy

See also: Nuclear power phase-out and nuclear energy policy)

Related Topics:
Nuclear power phase-out - Nuclear energy policy

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In 2000, the German SPD-led government along with Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Alliance '90/The Greens), officially announced its intention to phase out the use of nuclear energy. Jürgen Trittin (from the German Greens) as the Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, reached an agreement with energy companies on the gradual shut down of the country's nineteen nuclear power plants and a cessation of civil usage of nuclear power by 2020. As of 2005, the CDU is predicted to win the German federal election, 2005 with candidate Angela Merkel and it has been speculated she will cancel the phase-out (compare http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jul2005/cdu2-j09.shtml).

Related Topics:
2000 - German - SPD - Alliance '90/The Greens - Phase out the use of nuclear energy - Jürgen Trittin - Greens - The country's nineteen nuclear power plants - Nuclear power - 2020 - As of 2005 - CDU - German federal election, 2005 - Angela Merkel

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In 1999, electricity production in Germany was made up by coal (47%), nuclear power (30%), natural gas (14%), renewable sources (including hydro) (6%), and oil (2%) (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/germany.html). As for energy consumption, oil accounted for 41% of the total. The German government declaring climate protection as a key policy issue, announced a carbon dioxide reduction target by the year 2005 compared to 1990 by 25% (http://www.agores.org/Publications/EnR/GermanyREPolicy2000.pdf, pdf).

Related Topics:
1999 - Coal - Nuclear power - Natural gas - Renewable sources - Hydro - Oil - Climate protection - Carbon dioxide

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In 2005, the German government reached an agreement with Russia in building a gas transport in the Baltic sea from Russia to Germany.

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