The German political system

(música) Buenas dies o buenas tardes. Welcome to this new podcast series on Comparative Politics 1, a course in the degree of Politics at the Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona. We are Lorenzo Vidalfolk. Hola, Lorenzo. Hola, Buenas dies. Good morning, everybody. And myself, Margarita León, both faculty members in the Politics Department of the UAB. Now let's look into the German case. (música) A Federal Republic of Germany is structured as a federal state and parliamentary democracy. The structure and authority of Germany's government are derived from the country's constitution. The Green Gazettes are basic law, which came into force in May 1949 after former consent given by the military governments of the Western occupying powers, France, the UK, and the US. Following unconditional surrender in May 1945, the German state had ceased to exist and sovereign authority passed to the winning Allied powers. After the Second World War, Germany's economy had collapsed. Inflation was extremely high and there was a shortage of food and shelter. Virtually everything had to be built from scratch, also the design of the political system. Germany was divided into two different sovereign states, the Federal Republic of Germany, that is, West Germany under the control of the Allied forces and the German Democratic Republic, East Germany under Soviet occupation. An Allied control council was to exercise overall joint authority over the country. The values of the new German state have moved to the long-term control of the parliament. And the war took place on the 14th of August with greater speed. On the 7th of September, the country remained divided until 1990 with the fall of the Berlin Wall. So this basic law, the constitution that was published in 1949 had a provisional character. A parliamentary council of 65 members chosen by the parliament of the Lenders were responsible for designing a new democratic state after the failure of the Veymer Republic and the horrors of the Third Rage. The majority of members in that council belonged to the two largest parties, the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats. The Allies carefully watched the development of a new country. The document, the basic law, specified in its first pages that it was designed only for temporary use until a constitution had been freely adopted by the German people as a whole. The Grün Gazette is one of the most rigid constitutions in Europe. It can only be modified by a majority of two-thirds in both channels. Some parts, those referring to the principles of cooperation of the federal state or the division of Germany into Lenders, cannot be modified at all. "We have the support of all members." "The basic law, the organization that gave the freedom and power of the German people." An extensive bill of rights guarantees the civil and political freedoms of the city-centric. Federalism is proposed as an anti-totalitarian solution. The territorial organization of the state is designed as to provide for a strong social state that lives no one behind. "And what is the relationship between the federal state and the Lenders?" The legislative competences of the federation and the Lenders are regulated in great detail by the basic law. The federal state holds exclusive legislative competence in many different fields. Article 31 of the basic law states that the federal law shall take precedence over land law. This is intended to ensure that as far as possible, equitable living conditions prevail throughout the federal territory. Although the legislative capacity of Lenders is limited, there is something called concurrent legislation, which in practice gives them actually great executive power. Concurrent legislation come again. Yes, so it means that the Lenders can actually legislate if the federation makes no use of its legislative power in the same policy field. So things related to civil or criminal law or road traffic, social integration laws or consumer protection are among the fields that are subject to this concurrent legislation. The federal nature of the German state is reflected in the two legislative chambers. They are asymmetric. They do not hold equal powers. But the upper chamber represents exclusively the territories of the Lenders. The Federal Republic of Germany combines elements of majority rule and negotiation democracy. It is the sign to encourage consensus and power sharing, but certain majoritarian elements are there to ensure stability. The Bundestag, or Lower Chamber, retains the sovereignty of the German people. The Bundestag consists of 598 regular seats elected under a mixed electrosystem. One half of the seats are elected directly in 299 constituencies based on a majority vote. And the other half are filled through the proportional representation system using the party list. So this voting system is the sign so that to give small parties the chance to be represented. So it's a consensual principle. But at the same time, it minimizes the proliferation of a small political parties that had help to discredit democracy in the very republic. A party has to win a minimum of 5% of the overall vote to gain representation in the Bundestag. Overall, the system encourages the formation of solid coalitions. The Lenders are represented in the upper legislative chamber, the Bundestag, whose members are designated by the governments of the lander, the number vary according to the state's population. So the executive branch, the Bundestag elects the chancellor. The parliamentary majority controls the executive. But here too, there are mechanisms in place to avoid political instability. These are all lessons learned from the Second World War. And the years that preceded the war. The constructive vote of no confidence means that no confidence motion must be simultaneously proposed and alternative cabinets. So, for instance, a minority government can remain in power if the parliamentary majority opposing it is too divided to agree on an alternative. So really, the constructive vote of no confidence has a dissuasive effect. And it also corresponds to a vision of representative democracy where a chancellor elected by the Bundestag can only legitimately be substituted by the same organ. And what about the judicial branch? So, very different from the United Kingdom system that we saw before. The German court system has two levels, comprising the federal and the state courts. The federal constitutional court is the highest court dealing with constitutional matters. At the federal level, ordinary courts and specialized courts deal with criminal and civil cases. On the other hand, administrative law, taxation, labor disputes and social security cases. Thank you, Marga, for going through the political systems in the United Kingdom and Germany. In the next episode, we'll be looking at France and Italy. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you, Lorenzo. See you in the next episode. [Music]