COUNTRY PERSPECTIVE
The shortest useful version of how power works here.
The Bundestag elects the Federal Chancellor and scrutinizes the federal government.
The Bundestag elects the Federal Chancellor and scrutinizes the federal government. A chancellor can be removed only when the Bundestag elects a successor, the constructive vote of no confidence.
The Bundesrat represents the Länder.
The Bundesrat represents the Länder. Its consent is necessary for categories of federal law that particularly affect Länder responsibilities.
The Federal Constitutional Court can review public authority against the Basic Law.
The Federal Constitutional Court can review public authority against the Basic Law. Federalism, coalition government and constitutional review distribute power across several institutions.
Some political words change meaning across countries. These are the distinctions worth knowing first.
German liberalism is strongly associated with civil liberty and, in party politics, often with market economics.
German liberalism is strongly associated with civil liberty and, in party politics, often with market economics. It is not a synonym for the whole centre-left.
Christian democracy combines a socially conservative inheritance with social-market economics and welfare commitments; it is not simply US-style small-government conservatism.
Enough structure to make the rest of the page intelligible.
Only the events that help explain how today’s system got here.
The Federal Republic adopted the Basic Law; a separate German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet occupation zone.
The East German regime collapsed after mass protest and border opening; German unity followed in October 1990.
A reform changed the mechanism and fixed the Bundestag at 630 seats; its application and constitutional review require precise treatment in the election section.
Current-data work still open: Current office holders · Current Bundestag composition and party profiles · Latest federal election and turnout · Democracy, rights and civic-space dimensions · Long-term indicator trends