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Politics of Germany takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Federal Chancellor is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, Bundestag and Bundesrat. Since 1949 the party system is dominated by the conservative Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Smaller parties that have an important role are the liberal Free Democratic Party, that has been in the Bundestag since 1949, as well as the Green Party that has seats in the parliament since 1983. The Judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system is laid out in the 1949 constitutional document, the Grundgesetz (Basic Law), which remained in effect with minor amendments after 1990's German Reunification. |
Germany has a civil or statute law system based ultimately on Roman law with some references to Germanic 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. In 1976, with the Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz (VwVfG), the main form of actions of administration was codified. Most federated states have followed this codification. 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. 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 to the Constitution. It acts independently of the other state bodies, but cannot act on its own behalf |
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Germany plays a leading role in the European Union, having a strong alliance with France. Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking to advance the creation of a more unified and capable European political, defense and security apparatus. Since its establishment on May 23, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany kept a notably low profile in international relations, both because of its recent history as well as its occupied status. 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. Germany and the United States have been close allies since the end of the Second World War. The Marshall Plan and continued US support during the rebuilding process after World War II, as well as the significant influence American culture has had on German culture, have crafted a strong bond between Germany and the US that lasts to this day. Not only do the United States and Germany share many cultural similarities but they are also deeply economically interdependent. 8.8% of all German exports are US bound, and US-German trade according to the US Census Bureau totaled $108.2 billion for 2004. An illustration of the strong economic relations between the US and Germany may be the fact that 18.3% of all cars sold in the US were manufactured by German car manufacturers. Other signs of the close ties between Germany and the US are the fact that German-Americans remain the largest ethnic group in the US and the largest US community outside the US is the Ramstein Air Base, close to the city of Kaiserslautern, Germany.
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Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is a defense force with Heer (German Army), Marine (German Navy), Luftwaffe (German Air Force), Zentraler Sanitätsdienst (Central Medical Services) and Streitkräftebasis (Joint Service Support Command) branches. It employs some 250,000 soldiers (including women in active fighting branches since 2001) and 120,000 civilians (will be reduced to 75,000). 40,000 of the soldiers are 18-23-year-old men on national duty, currently for at least 9 months. In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defense, currently Franz Josef Jung. If Germany goes to war, which is according to the Basic Law allowed only for defensive purposes, the Chancellor becomes commander in chief of the German Bundeswehr. 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% of gross domestic product. Today, defense spending equals about 1.2% of German GDP, compared to the NATO average of 2.3% and the United States' more than 4%. 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. Opponents argue that the transformation from a manpower based army securing the Eastern border to a modernized force with fewer soldiers on the payroll is duly reflected in a lower budget. Currently, the German military has about 1,180 troops stationed in Bosnia-Herzegovina; 2,650 Bundeswehr soldiers are serving in Kosovo; and 3,900 Bundeswehr troops are assisting the US anti-terrorism operation called Enduring Freedom off the Horn of Africa. 4,500 German troops currently make up the largest contingent of the NATO-led ISAF force in Afghanistan.
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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 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. In 1999, electricity production in Germany was powered by coal (47%), nuclear power (30%), natural gas (14%), renewable sources (including hydro, wind and solar power) (6%), and oil (2%). As for energy consumption, oil accounted for 41% of the total. At the World climate conference, the German government announced a carbon dioxide reduction target of 25% by the year 2005 as compared to 1990, to protect global climate. In 2005, the German government reached a controversial agreement with Russia in building a gas pipeline at the bottom of the Baltic Sea directly from Russia to Germany. Germany leads Europe by having the greatest solar and wind electricity generating capacity on the continent. In terms of total installed capacity in wind power electricity Germany is the world's No.1 producer. 2005 18,427.5 MW were produced (in comparison: 2nd place Spain - 10,027 MW; 3rd place; USA - 9,141 MW). Germany's emphasis on renewable energy sources has also resulted in the founding of numerous high-tech companies developing such technologies. One such company is Solar World, developer and manufacture of solar cells. Germany is also the main exporter of wind turbines, the demand greatly exceeding capacity |
Germany Information: Inside
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