The Government and Politics of Germany

1. By: Benedict Gombocz

2.  Government (Regierung):
Federal parliamentary republic
and multi-party democracy
 President
(Bundespräsident):Joachim
Gauck (No party; New
Forum/Alliance 90 1989-1990)
 Chancellor (Bundeskanzlerin):
Angela Merkel (CDU)
 President of the Bundestag
(Präsident des Deutschen
Bundestages) : Norbert
Lammert (CDU)
 President of the Bundesrat
(Präsident des Bundesrats):
Horst Seehofer (CSU)

3.  Christian Democratic Union of
Germany (Christlich
Demokratische Union
Deutschlands, CDU)
 Christian Social Union in Bavaria
(Christlich-Soziale Union in
Bayern, CSU)
 Social Democratic Party of
Germany (Sozialdemokratische
Partei Deutschlands, SPD)
 Free Democratic Party (Freie
Demokratische Partei, FDP)
 The Left (Die Linke, LINKE)
 Alliance ‘90/The Greens
(Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)

4.  1990: CDU/CSU
 1994: CDU/CSU
 1998: SPD
 2002: SPD
 2005: CDU/CSU
 2009: CDU/CSU

5.  Free Voters (Freie Wähler, FW)
 Pirate Party Germany (Piratenpartei Deutschland,
PIRATEN)
 National Democratic Party of Germany - The
People’s Union (Nationaldemokratische Partei
Deutschlands – Die Volksunion, NPD)
 South Schleswig Voter Federation
(Südschleswigscher Wählerverband , SSW)
 Citizens in Rage (Bürger in Wut, BIW)
 German Communist Party (Deutsche
Kommunistische Partei, DKP)

6.  Christian democratic and
conservative party
 Founded in 1945 and currently the
largest party ahead of the Social
Democratic Party of Germany
 Regarded as part of the centre-
right of the German political
spectrum
 Forms the CDU/CSU grouping
(also known as the Union)
together with its sister party, the
Christian Social Union of
Bavaria, in the Bundestag
 Member of the European People’s
Party (EPP) and sits in the EPP
Group in the European Parliament

7.  Christian Democratic and
Conservative Party
 Founded in 1945
 Operates only in Bavaria while its
sister party, the Christian
Democratic Union, operates in the
other 15 states
 The smallest of the six parties
represented in the Bundestag, it
only has 45 seats
 Founded as a continuation of the
Weimar-era Catholic Bavarian
People’s Party
 Currently governs at federal level
with both its sister Christian
Democratic Union and Free
Democratic Party

8.  Social-democratic liberal party
 Second largest party behind the
Christian Democratic Union and the
oldest parliament represented party
 Governed at federal level in grand
coalition with the Christian
Democratic Union and Christian
Social Union between 2005 and
2009
 Defeated in the federal election of
2009 with its share of votes having
decreased from 34.2% to 23%, it is
currently the largest Bundestag
represented opposition party
 Full member of the Party of
European Socialists and Socialist
International

9.  Centre-right classical liberal party
 Founded on 11 December 1948
 Currently serves as junior coalition
partner to the Union (Christian
Democratic Union and Christian
Social Union) and is the third
largest Bundestag represented
party with 93 members
 Has held the balance of power in
the Bundestag for most of the
Federal Republic’ history has been
in federal government longer than
any other party as junior coalition
partner to either the CDU/CSU
(1949-56; 1961-66; 1982-88; since
2009) or the Social Democratic
Party (1969-82)

10.  Democratic socialist party and
most left-wing Bundestag
represented party
 Founded on 16 June 2007 as
merger of the Party of Democratic
Socialism- successor of the
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
(the ruling party of the former
East Germany) and Electoral
Alternative for Labour and Social
Justice (WASG)
 Won 76 out of 622 seats after
polling 11.9% of the vote in 2009
federal elections
 Member of the Party of the
European Left and largest party in
the European United Left-Nordic
Green Left group in the European
Parliament internationally

11.  Green and centre-left
party
 Founded in 1980 as The
Greens and 1993 with
merger of the Greens and
Alliance 90
 Won 10.7% of the votes in
2009 federal elections
 With 68 out of 622 seats in
the Bundestag , it is the
second smallest
Bundestag represented
party

12.  Received 10.2% of the
vote in 2008 Bavaria
state election and
gained first 20 seats in
the Landtag

13.  Civil libertarian and social liberal
Party based on model of Swedish
Piratpartiet
 Founded on 10 September 2006
 Supports preservation of current
civil rights in telephony and on the
Internet; particularly opposes
European data retention policies
and Germany’s new Internet
censorship law
Zugangserschwerungsgesetz
 Favors civil right to information
privacy and copyright, education,
and genetic patents policies

14.  Far right nationalist party
 Founded on 28 November 1964 as
successor to the German Reich
Party
 Merged with far right German
People’s Union on 1 January 2011 ,
which added the ‘The People’s
Union’ to the party name
 Often described as a neo-Nazi
organization and “the most
significant neo-Nazi party to
emerge after 1945”
 Currently represented in only two
of Germany’s sixteen state
parliaments, it has no seats at
federal level

15.  Regional social liberal and ethnic
minority interests party;
represents the Danish and
Frisian minorities
 Founded in 1948
 Does not identify itself with left-
right scale, but bases its policies
on Scandinavian countries
 Represented in the diet
(Landtag) of Schleswig-Holstein
and several regional and
municipal courts
 In most recent Schleswig-
Holstein election of 2009, it
gained 4.3% of the vote and
won four seats

16.  Right-wing populist voter’s
association
 Founded in March 2004 as
successor to the Bremen section
of the Law and Order Offensive
Party (“Schill party”)
 Its focus has been on important
issues like crime fighting and
immigration policy
 Took part in Bremen
parliamentary election of 2007
 Won 3.7% of the popular state
statewide in Bremen state
election of 2011

17.  Communist, Marxist-Leninist
party
 Founded in 1968 to take the place
of the banned Communist Party
of Germany
 Remained on the political fringe
and never won more than 0.3% of
the total votes in federal elections
 Had relatively larger support in
the 1970s; managed to get at least
2.2% in elections Hamburg; at
least 3.1% in elections in Bremen;
at least 2.7% in Saarland
 Entered a significant decline in
the years following German
reunification; as of 2008,
membership is only some 4,000

18.  Chairwoman of the Christian
Democratic Union and current
Chancellor of Germany, the first
woman to hold the office
 Born on 17 July 1954 in Hamburg
 Also served as chairwoman of the
CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition
from 2002 to 2005
 Led a grand coalition with the
Christian Social Union from 2005
to 2009
 Was also President of the
European Union in 2007 and
chaired the G8 and played an
important role in the negotiation
of the Treaty of Lisbon and the
Berlin Declaration

19.  Chairman of the Christian Social
Union and current Minister-
President of Bavaria
 Born on 4 July 1949 in Ingolstadt
 Also was Federal Minister for
Health and Social Security from
1992 to 1998 and served as
Federal Minister of Food,
Agriculture and Consumer
Protection in Angela Merkel’s
cabinet from 2005 to 2008
 Became the new chairman of CSU
at a party convention on 25
October 2008 with 90% of the
votes
 Was elected Minister-President of
Bavaria on 27 October by the
Landtag with votes from the Free
Democratic Party

20.  Chairman of the Social
Democratic Party of Germany
 Born on 12 September 1959 in
Goslar
 Previously served as Minister-
President of Lower Saxony from
15 December 1999-4 March 2003
 Became the SPD’s
“Representative for Pop Culture
and Pop Discourse” from 2003 to
2005 after being voted out of
office
 Was the Federal Minister for the
Environment, Nature
Conservation and Nuclear Safety
in Angela Merkel’s first cabinet

21.  Chairman of the Free Democratic
Party and the current Federal
Minister of Economics and
Technology and Vice Chancellor of
Germany
 Born on 24 February 1973 in the
former South Vietnam
 Physician by profession; served as
Minister for Economics and
Deputy Prime Minister of Lower
Saxony between February and
October 2009
 Also served as Federal Minister of
Health in Angela Merkel’s second
cabinet from 2009 to 2011
 Is of Vietnamese origin and was
adopted by a German couple
when he was an infant

22.  President of The Left (jointly with
Klaus Ernst)
 Born on 7 August 1961
 Was born in the former East
Germany and joined the Socialist
Unity Party of Germany in 1984;
was also a member of its
successor parties- Party of
Democratic Socialism (1990-2005)
and The Left (from 2007)
 Was elected to the Bundestag for
the Party of Democratic Socialism
in 2002
 Has been criticized for suggesting
former Stasi employees as
members of parliaments and
governments

23.  Co-chair of the Left (together
with Gesine Lötzsch)
 Born on 1 November 1954 in
Munich
 Has served as a member of The
Left in the Bundestag since 2005
 Became a member of the
German Metalworkers’ Union in
1972; took the chair of regional
trade unions youth organization
in 1974 in Munich (until 1979),
becoming a member of the SPD
 Studied political economy at the
University of Hamburg between
1979 and 1984

24.  One of the two party chairs of
Alliance ‘90/The Greens
(together with Cem Özdemir)
 Born on 15 May 1955 in Ulm
 Came into contact with the
Green Party on election
campaign tours
 Became press spokesperson for
the Greens in the Bundestag in
1985, in spite of being a
newcomer to this position
 Elected for the first time as a
Member of the European
Parliament for the Greens in
1989

25.  Co-chairperson of Alliance ‘90/The
Greens, along with Claudia Roth
 Born on 21 December 1965 in Bad
Urach
 Was a Member of Parliament of
the Bundestag for eight years
(1994 to 2002) and of the
European Parliament for five
years (2004 to 2009)
 Is also a member of the Advisory
Board of the Institute for Cultural
Diplomacy
 Is the son of a Circassian
gastarbeiter family from Turkey;
acquired German citizenship in
1983

27.  Christian Democratic Union: 32.0%
 Christian Social Union in Bavaria: 7.4%
 Social Democratic Party of Germany: 27.9%
 Free Democratic Party: 9.4%
 The Left: 11.1%
 Alliance ‘90/The Greens: 9.2%
 Pirate Party Germany: 0.1%
 National Democratic Party: 1.8%
 Human Environment Animal Welfare: 0.0%
 The Republicans: 0.1%
 Ecological Democratic Party: 0.2%
 Family Party: 0.0%
 Others: 0.7%