GERMANY

E SBE R, K AT E EL O I SE
P LA , CH L O E
RE A S , MA RY CO R
Y U , BRI TA N N Y
 Brief History of Germany

Ununited Germany

•Germany was divided into hundreds of states, many quite small, including duchies, principalities,
free cities, and ecclesiastical states
•Not even the Romans united know what is now known as Germany under one government; they
managed to occupy only its southern and western portions
•In A.D. 800 Charlemagne, who had been crowned Holy Roman emperor by Pope Leo III, ruled
over a territory that encompassed much of present-day Belgium, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, and Switzerland, but within a generation its existence was more symbolic than real
 Brief History of Germany

Medieval Germany

•Medieval Germany was marked by division

•The Habsburg Dynasty's long monopoly of the crown of the Holy Roman Empire provided only
the semblance of German unity
•Within the empire, German princes warred against one another as before
•The Protestant Reformation deprived Germany of even its religious unity, leaving its population
Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist
 Brief History of Germany

Peace of Westphalia

•The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 left German-speaking Europe divided into hundreds of states
•Prussia and Austria—jockeyed for dominance
•From the mid-1790s until Prussia, Austria, and Russia defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig
in 1813 and drove him out of German territory, much of the area was occupied by French troops
• Napoleon's officials abolished numerous small states; as a result, in 1815, after the Congress of
Vienna, German territory consisted of only about 40 states. 
 Brief History of Germany

Revolutions for Unification and Democracy

•Scholars, bureaucrats, students, journalists, and businessmen agitated for a united Germany
that would bring with it uniform laws and a single currency and that would replace the
benighted absolutism of petty German states with democracy
• The revolutions of 1848 seemed at first likely to realize this dream of unity and freedom, but
the monarch who was offered the crown of a united Germany, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of
Prussia, rejected it
•The king, like the other rulers of Germany's kingdoms, opposed German unity because he saw it
as a threat to his power
 Brief History of Germany

Otto von Bismarck

•Despite the opposition of conservative forces, German unification came more than two decades
later, in 1871, following the Franco-Prussian War, when Germany was unified and transformed into
an empire under Emperor Wilhelm I, king of Prussia
•Otto von Bismarck
•Sensing the power of nationalism, Bismarck sought to use it for his own aims, the preservation of a
feudal social order and the triumph of his country, Prussia, in the long contest with Austria for
preeminence in Germany
•Bismarck achieved a united Germany without Austria
•He brought together the so-called "small Germany," consisting of Prussia and the remaining German
states
 Brief History of Germany

Prussian hegemony

•Although united Germany had a parliament, the Reichstag, elected through universal male
suffrage, supreme power rested with the emperor and his ministers, who were not responsible
to the Reichstag
•The Reichstag could contest the government's decisions, but in the end the emperor could
largely govern as he saw fit
•Supporting the emperor were the nobility, large rural landowners, business and financial elites,
the civil service, the Protestant clergy, and the military
 Brief History of Germany

Prussian hegemony

•The military, which had made unification possible, enjoyed tremendous prestige
•In the long term, Bismarck and his successors were not able to subjugate this opposition
•By 1912 the Socialists had come to have the largest number of representatives in the Reichstag
•They and the Center Party made governing increasingly difficult for the empire's conservative
leadership
 Brief History of Germany

The World Wars

•In World War I (1914–18), Germany’s aims were annexationist in nature and foresaw an
enlarged Germany, with Belgium and Poland as vassal states and with colonies in Africa
•However, Germany’s military strategy, involving a two-front war in France and Belgium in the
west and Russia in the east, ultimately failed
•Germany’s defeat in 1918 meant the end of the German Empire
•The Treaty of Versailles, the peace settlement negotiated by the victors (Britain, France, and
the United States) in 1919, imposed punitive conditions on Germany, including the loss of
territory, financial reparations, and a diminished military
•These conditions set the stage for World War II
 Brief History of Germany

Weimar Republic

•A republic, the Weimar Republic (1919–33), was established with a constitution that provided
for a parliamentary democracy in which the government was ultimately responsible to the
people
•But the Weimar Republic ultimately disappointed those who had hoped it would introduce
democracy to Germany
•By mid-1933 it had been destroyed by Adolf Hitler, its declared enemy since his first days in the
public arena
•Hitler was a psychopath who sensed and exploited the worries and resentments of many
Germans, knew when to act, and possessed a sure instinct for power
 Brief History of Germany

Hitler as chancellor

•A modest economic recovery from 1924 to 1929 gave the Weimar Republic a brief respite. The
severe social stress engendered by the Great Depression, however, swelled the vote received by
extreme antidemocratic parties in the election of 1930 and the two elections of 1932
•In January 1933, leading conservative politicians formed a new government with Hitler as
chancellor
•They intended to harness him and his party (the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or
Nazis), now the country's largest, to realize their own aim of replacing the republic with an
authoritarian government
•Only in 1945 did a military alliance of dozens of nations succeed in deposing him, and only after his
regime and the nation it ruled had committed crimes of unparalleled enormity known as the
Holocaust
 Brief History of Germany

The Postwar Era and Unification

•In the aftermath of World War II Germany came to consist of two states
•East Germany, never attained real legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens, fell farther and farther
behind economically, and had to use force to prevent its population from fleeing to the West
•West Germany, was resoundingly successful
•The economy performed so successfully that eventually several million foreigners came to West
Germany to work as well
•West German and foreign workers alike were protected from need arising from sickness,
accidents, and old age by an extensive, mostly nongovernment welfare system
 Brief History of Germany

The Postwar Era and Unification

•In 1990 German unification overcame the geographic separation of the two German states,
including an infamous wall between West Berlin and East Berlin, but economic integration still
has not been achieved satisfactorily
•In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the forces of globalization are posing a renewed
challenge to the social-market economy in place throughout the nation
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik
Deutschland) is the constitutional law of the Federal Republic of Germany
It was approved on 8 May 1949 in Bonn, and, with the signature of the Western Allies of World War II on
12 May, came into effect on 23 May
By the Unification Treaty of 1990, the Basic Law, as amended, was adopted as the constitution for a united
Germany
The authors of the Basic Law sought to ensure that a potential dictator would never again have the chance
to come into power in the country
Although some of the Basic Law is based on the Weimar republic constitution, the authors also ensured
that human rights and human dignity was made the central and core part of the Basic Law
The principles of democracy, republicanism, social responsibility, and federalism are key components of the
Basic Law
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany

Germany’s constitution established a parliamentary system of government that incorporated many features of

the British system;

However, since the Basic Law created a federal system, many political structures were drawn from the models

of the United States and other federal governments

In reaction to the centralization of power during the Nazi  era, the Basic Law granted the states considerable

autonomy.
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany

Parliament cannot delegate its legislative function to the chancellor

Civil rights cannot be suspended without continuous parliamentary surveillance

The president has been turned into a figurehead on the model of the French presidents of the Third and

Fourth Republics

Parliament cannot overthrow a chancellor and his cabinet unless it first elects a successor with the vote of a

majority of its members

Basic Law of Germany and Constitution of United States

In addition to federalism, the Basic Law has two other features similar to the Constitution of the United
States:

(1) its formal declaration of the principles of human rights and of bases for the government of the people
and

(2) the strongly independent position of the courts, especially in the right of the Federal Constitutional
Court to void a law by declaring it unconstitutional.
 Political Organization

EXECUTIVE
The head of state is the President
Elected for a maximum of two five-year terms
The voters in the election for President are known collectively as the Federal
Convention
The current President is Joachim Gauck
The head of the government is the Chancellor (equivalent to the British Prime
Minister)
The current Chancellor is Angela Merkel of the CDU
 Political Organization

EXECUTIVE
Every four years, the chancellor is elected by a majority of the members of the
Bundestag upon the proposal of the President
This vote is one of the few cases where a majority of all elected members of the
Bundestag must be achieved, as opposed to a mere majority of those that are
currently assembled
This is referred to as the "Kanzlermehrheit" (Chancellor's majority) and is
designed to ensure the establishment of a stable government
Most significantly, the Chancellor cannot be dismissed by a simple vote of no
confidence but only by a "constructive vote of no confidence" with majority
support for an alternative named Chancellor
 Political Organization

THE BUNDESTAG
The lower house in the German political system is the Bundestag
Its members are elected for four-year terms
The method of election is known as mixed member proportional
representation (MMPR)
Half of the members of the Bundestag are elected directly from 299
constituencies using the first-past-the post method of election
Then the other half - another 299 - are elected from the lists of the parties on
the basis of each Land
 Political Organization

THE BUNDESTAG
The first vote allows voters to elect their local representatives to the
Parliament and decides which candidates are sent to Parliament from the
constituencies
The second vote is cast for a party list and it is this second vote that
determines the relative strengths of the parties represented in the Bundestag
Each of these parties is allocated seats in the Bundestag in proportion to the
number of votes it has received
As a consequence, there are always a small number of parties with
representation in the Bundestag - currently the figure is only six (and effectively
the CDU and the CSU are the same party)
 Political Organization

THE BUNDESTAG
Many voters "split" their ballots, voting for a candidate from one party with
their first vote and for a different party with their second
The directly elected candidates (known as direct mandates) entered the
Bundestag, but a given party might then have more candidates than its share of
the second votes would imply - known as "Überhangmandate" or "overhang
mandates“
This also meant that the Bundestag swelled from its theoretical size of 598
seats to 620. In 2009, the Constitutional Court ruled that this was unfair and
unconstitutional
 Political Organization

THE BUNDESTAG

If direct mandates for any party exceed its second-vote ratio, then all the other
parties get compensated so that the ratios again reflect the second votes exactly
- so-called "Ausgleichmandate“

The Bundestag elects the Chancellor for a four-year term and is the main
legislative body
 Political Organization

THE BUNDESRAT
The upper house in the German political system is the Bundesrat
1. Its members are not elected, neither by popular vote nor by the state parliaments,
but are members of the state cabinets which appoint them and can remove them
at any time. Normally, a state delegation is headed by the head of government in
that Land known in Germany as the Minister-President.
2. The states are not represented by an equal number of delegates, since the
population of the respective state is a major factor in the allocation of votes (rather
than delegates) to each particular Land. The votes allocation can be approximated
as 2.01 + the square root of the Land's population in millions with the additional
limit of a maximum of six votes so that it is consistent with something called the
Penrose method based on game theory. This means that the 16 states have
between three and six delegates
 Political Organization

THE BUNDESRAT
This unusual method of composition provides for a total of 69 votes (not seats) in
the Bundesrat
The state cabinet then may appoint as many delegates as the state has votes, but is
under no obligation to do so; it can restrict the state delegation even to one single
delegate
Even with a full delegate appointment of 69, the Bunsderat is a much smaller body
that the Bundestag with over 600 members
It is unusual for the two chambers of a bicameral system to be quite so unequal in
size
The Bundesrat has the power to veto legislation that affects the powers of the states
 Political Organization

POLITICAL PARTIES
Germany has two major party groupings, one Centre-Right and the other
Centre-Left
The Centre-Right grouping comprises two political parties that operate in
different parts of the country so that there is no direct electoral competition
between them
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) operates in all the Länder except
Bavaria, while the Christian Social Union (CSU) operates only in Bavaria
The CDU is led by Angela Merkel, while the CSU is led by Horst Seehofer
 Political Organization

POLITICAL PARTIES
The Centre-Left party is the Social Democratic Party (SPD in German). It is led
by Sigmar Gabriel.
The other parties represented in the Bundestag are:
• The Left Party - built on the former Communist Party (led by Katja Kipping and Bernd
Riexinger)
• The Alliance '90/The Greens - the German Green party (led by Simone Peter and Cem
Özdemir)
Unusually political parties in Germany receive significant public funds and the
costs of election campaigns are substantially met from the public purse
 Political Organization

JUDICIARY
Germany's supreme court is called the Federal Constitutional Court and its role
is essentially as guardian of the constitution
There are 16 judges divided between two panels called Senates, each holding
office for a non-renewable term of 12 years
Half the judges are elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat, in
both cases by a two-thirds majority
Once appointed, a judge can only be removed by the Court itself.
Whereas the Bundestag and the Bundesrat have moved from Bonn to Berlin,
the Constitutional Court is located in Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-
Württemberg
 Political Organization

THE LANDER
The territory in each Occupation Zone was re-organized into new Länder
(singular Land)
Later the Länder in the western part of the former German Reich were
constituted as administrative areas first and subsequently federated into
the Bund or Federal Republic of Germany
There are 16 Länder in the German political system
The cities of Berlin and Hamburg are states in their own right,
termed Stadtstaaten (city states), while Bremen consists of two urban districts
The remaining 13 states are termed Flächenländer (area states)
 Political Organization

THE LANDER

The Basic Law accords significant powers to the 16 Länder

Each Land has a unicameral assembly or parliament called the Landtag

The election period in the various Länder is generally four to five years and the

dates of elections vary from state to state

German Economy

Germany’s economy has been resilient in the face of global economic

uncertainty. The government has held firm to sound public finance, and deficit-
cutting efforts have kept public spending under control. Earlier labor market
reforms that raised working-hour flexibility and reduced structural
unemployment have helped to sustain the relatively robust job market
German Economy
Economic Freedom Snapshot
2016 Economic Freedom Score: 74.4 (up 0.6 point)
Economic Freedom Status: Mostly Free
Global Ranking: 17th
Regional Ranking: 8th in Europe
Notable Successes: Rule of Law and Open Markets
Concerns: Fiscal Freedom and Labor Freedom
Overall Score Change Since 2012: +3.4
German Economy

Germany’s commitment to regulatory efficiency and open-market policies

continues to be bolstered by the effective protection of property rights. The rule

of law is well maintained, and a strong tradition of minimal tolerance for

corruption is firmly institutionalized.

German Economy
BACKGROUND

oChancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union won the biggest share of the
national vote in the September 2013 election, but its economically liberal coalition
partner, the Free Democratic Party, is no longer in the Bundestag

oIn December 2013, Merkel’s party formed a new coalition government with the Social
Democratic Party

oEconomic reforms remain stalled, with most policy attention focused on rescuing the
euro
German Economy
BACKGROUND

oGermany has funded the lion’s share of large rescue packages for fellow eurozone members

oIts industrialized economy, which is Europe’s largest and well integrated into the global
marketplace, generates average per capita incomes that are among the world’s highest

oGrowth has slowed, but Germany’s unemployment rate is still one of Europe’s lowest

oGermany remains, both politically and economically, the most influential nation in the EU
German Economy
RULE OF LAW

oAlthough government transparency is high and anti-corruption measures are

enforced effectively, the auto industry, construction, and public contracting, in
conjunction with questionable political party influence and party donations, are
areas of continued concern

oThe law fully protects property owned by foreigners, and secured interests in
both chattel and real property are recognized and enforced
German Economy
REGULATORY EFFICIENCY

oThe regulatory regime aids dynamic business formation

oNo minimum capital is required to launch a new business

oThe labor market functions well, and employers and workers have worked
cooperatively in response to the changing economic environment

oThe government has cut subsidies for renewable energy sources but maintains
price controls in other economic sectors, such as rental housing
German Economy
QUICK FACTS

Population:
81.1 million

GDP (PPP):
$3.7 trillion

1.6% growth

2.0% 5-year compound annual growth

$45,888 per capita

German Economy
QUICK FACTS

Unemployment:
5.0%

Inflation (CPI):
0.8%

FDI Inflow:
$1.8 billion
Current Issues

Extremist Violence on the rise in Germany

Domestic intelligence agency says far-right, far-left and Islamist radical groups
gaining membership in country

Political extremism rose sharply in Germany last year – among far-right but also
far-left and Islamist radical groups – the domestic intelligence agency has said.

In 2015, 1,408 acts of far-right violence were recorded, against 990 the previous
year, said the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Current Issues

Extremist Violence on the rise in Germany

The sharp rise in racist hate crimes came as Germany took in a record number
of more than 1 million refugees and migrants asking for political asylum, and
as jihadi attacks in Paris and Brussels stoked terrorism fears in Europe
There were 75 arson attacks against refugee shelters in Germany, five times
more than 2014. The report said that online “social networks play an
important role in agitation and radicalisation”, as uninhibited hate speech
dehumanises minorities and fuels real-world violent crime.
Far-left acts of violence – often targeting far-right activists or police – also rose
sharply, to 1,608 violent offences from 995 the previous year, said the report
Current Issues

Extremist Violence on the rise in Germany

The burnt-out remains of a

former hotel that was to
serve as a shelter for 300
refugees, in Bautzen,
Germany
Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
German Territory
Area: 357,168 km
 German Territory
TERRITORIAL EVOLUTION

 In the year 1871 when Otto on Bismarck unified most of the German states, modern Germany
was formed (except Austria)
 Germany lost about 10% of its territory after the first World War to its neighbors and the
Weimar Republic was formed
 From the 1930s during the period of Nazi rule to the second World War, territorial lose was the
biggest issue
 Pre-war Germany was split into British, French and American (northwest), west and south and
Soviet occupation zones after the war (Berlin was divided into four sectors)
 Former eastern territories were ceded to Poland and was called “Recovered Territories”
 German Territory
TERRITORIAL EVOLUTION

 The western of Germany, with the onset of cold war became the federal republic of
Germany; was unified as the Trizone (may 1949)
 “East Germany” communist German democratic republic : * the soviet zone, the soviet
sector of berlin (October, 1949)
 Provided with its Grundgesetz (constitution), the Saar protectorate declared its accession
to the federal republic of Germany
 3rd of October of the year 1990, east Germany, including east berlin and west berlin
declared their accession to the federal republic of Germany after deciding to use the same
west German constitutional clause.
German Territory
Formation of German Empire

- Unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated

nation state officially occurred on January 18th year 1871, in the home of

mirrors in palace of Versailles in France

 German Territory
Territorial Changes after World War I

Treaty of Versailles
 The treaty stripped Germany of 25,000 square miles (65,000 km2) of territory and 7,000,000
people. It also required Germany to give up the gains made via the treaty of Brest-Litovsk and
grant independence to the protectorates that had been established
 German Territory
German occupation in Czechoslovakia (1938-1945)

 Began with the Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions,

formerly being part of German-Austria known collectively as the Sudetenland
 On 13 march 1939, Nazi armies entered Prague and proceeded to occupy the remainder
of bohemia and Moravia, which was transformed into a protectorate of the Reich. The
eastern half of the country, Slovakia, became a separate pro-Nazi state, the Slovak republic
 Lithuania lost control over Memel territory. In the year 1939, the Lithuanian minister of
foreign affairs and a German counterpart signed the treaty of cession of the Memel
territory to Germany in exchange for a Lithuanian free zone in the port of Memel, using
the facilities erected in previous years
 German Territory
WORLD WAR II

 In the year 1939 after invading Poland, Germany annexed nearly a quarter of the entire territory
of the second polish republic and was placed directly under theGerman civil administration
 General government was the name of the Nazi occupied Poland
 Luxembourg
 Luxembourg was invaded and occupied by German forces in June 1940. It was formally annexed
to Germany in august 1942
 Parts of Yugoslavia ( Germany, Italy & Hungary) South Tyrol
 All areas incorporated into Nazi Germany (1937-1945) were repudiated
 German Territory
Territorial Changes after World War II

 Yalta Conference ( Feb 4-11 1945)

- Poland’s boundary to be moved westward. the open question was whether the border should follow
the eastern or western Neisse rivers, and whether Stettin, the traditional seaport of Berlin, should remain
German or be included in Poland.
 Potsdam Agreement
- agreement between the 3 allies of the World War II ( United States, Union of Soviets Socialist Republic
and United Kingdom for Germany’s reconstruction and for military occupation.
- issuance of a statement of aims of the occupation of Germany by the
allies: demilitarization, denazification, democratization and decartelization
 German Territory
Territorial Changes after World War II

 - Division of Germany and Austria respectively into four occupation zones (earlier agreed in principle at Yalta), and the
similar division of each's capital, berlin and Vienna, into four and five sectors (one quadripartite sector), respectively.

- Reversion of all German annexations in Europe after 1937, among these were Sudetenland, Alsace-Lorraine,
Austria, the west most parts of Poland, and others

- Expulsion of the German populations

German Territory
Territorial Changes after World War II
 Belgium
- The “working party on provisional adjustments to the western frontiers of Germany" approved in 1949
the provisional transfer of 20 square km containing 500 inhabitants to Belgium
*Bildchen (returned in 1956)
*Lichtenbusch (returned in 1956)
*Fringshaus  (first two returned in 1956)
*Leykoul (eastern part returned in 1956)
*Elsenborn
*Losheim (only the village returned in 1956)
*Hemmeres (returned in 1956)
German Territory
Territorial Changes after World War II

 Netherlands

- plans made in Netherlands to annex German territory As compensation for the damages caused by the
war.

- On April 23, 1949, Dutch troops occupied an area of 69 square kilometers

- Starting in march 1957, west Germany negotiated with the Netherlands for the return of these areas.
German Territory
Territorial Changes after World War II

 France

- It was a reconstruction plan for France that proposed giving France control over the German coal and
steel areas

- The Monnet Plan (1946-1950) first five year plan for modernization and equipment which drew heavily
on earlier French plans to make France the largest steel producer in Europe. Monnet's aim was to modernize
the French economy so as to make it internationally competitive, especially versus German exports
Facts about Germany
Germany is the most populous European country (apart from Russia), with a population of 82
million
German people are the second biggest consumers of beer in the world (after the Czechs), with
an average of 107 litres per person per year in 2010 (or 0.30 l per day)
The German language was once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe, and
remains the language with the most native speakers in Europe
Prison escape is not punishable by law in Germany 
Germany is sometimes known as ‘the land of poets and thinkers
Germany is rated highly as a place to grow old
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany since 2005, was ranked as the world's second most
powerful person
Facts about Germany
To get ONE beer in Germany, you show your thumb. To show your first finger means that you
want 2 beers: one with the thumb, and one with the finger

Germany has over 400 zoos, the most in the world

Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany

Most taxis in Germany are Mercedes

In the 4th grade, German kids are placed into Hauptschule, Realschule or Gymnasium, which
pretty much determines if you will go to university or straight to the work force (Gymnasium is
the highest level)
References
Library of Congress
Retrieved from: http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/History/Germany-history.htm

Spiro, Herbert (Last updated: 2016, July 22). Constitution Politics and Law
Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/constitution-politics-and-law/Europe#ref384611

Darlington, Roger (Last modified: 2016, March 16). German Political System
Retrieved from: http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Germanpoliticalsystem.html

The Heritage Foundation

Retrieved from: http://www.heritage.org/index/country/germany

Presse, Agence (2016, June 28). Extremist Violence on the Rise in Germany
Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/28/germany-extremist-violence-far-right-left-
islamist

Youtube