The 1949 Basic Law is a response to the perceived flaws of the 1919 Weimar Constitution, which failed to prevent the rise of the Nazi party in 1933.
The 1949 Basic Law is a response to the perceived flaws of the 1919 Weimar Constitution, which failed to prevent the rise of the Nazi party in 1933.
Germany is a democratic, federal parliamentary republic, where federal legislative power is vested in the Bundestag (the parliament of Germany) and the Bundesrat (the representative body of the Länder, Germany's regional states). The multilateral system has, since 1949, been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
It is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the G20 and the OECD. ==History== ===Prior to 1998=== Beginning with the election of Konrad Adenauer in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany had Christian Democratic chancellors for 20 years until a coalition between the Social Democrats and the Liberals took over.
The CDU/CSU had only little losses but also reached a new historic low with its worst result since 1949.
It was formally approved on 8 May 1949, and, with the signature of the Allies of World War II on 12 May, came into effect on 23 May, as the constitution of those states of West Germany that were initially included within the Federal Republic.
The 1949 Basic Law is a response to the perceived flaws of the 1919 Weimar Constitution, which failed to prevent the rise of the Nazi party in 1933.
From 1982, Christian Democratic leader Helmut Kohl was chancellor in a coalition with the Liberals for 16 years.
In this period fell the reunification of Germany, in 1990: the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic.
Specific provisions for the former GDR territory were enabled via the unification treaty between the Federal Republic and the GDR prior to the unification day of 3 October 1990.
Three factors are generally cited that enabled Schröder to win the elections despite poor approval ratings a few months before and a weaker economy: good handling of the 100-year flood, firm opposition to the US 2003 invasion of Iraq, and Stoiber's unpopularity in the east, which cost the CDU crucial seats there. In its second term, the red–green coalition lost several very important state elections, for example in Lower Saxony where Schröder was the prime minister from 1990 to 1998.
Since 1990, in the course of the reunification process after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Basic Law also applies to the eastern states of the former German Democratic Republic. ==Executive== ===Head of state=== The German head of state is the Federal President.
Following Merkel's first two historically low results, her third campaign marked the CDU/CSU's best result since 1994 and only for the second time in German history the possibility of gaining an absolute majority.
It is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the G20 and the OECD. ==History== ===Prior to 1998=== Beginning with the election of Konrad Adenauer in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany had Christian Democratic chancellors for 20 years until a coalition between the Social Democrats and the Liberals took over.
However, Germany saw in the following two distinct party systems: the Green party and the Liberals remained mostly West German parties, while in the East the former socialist state party, now called PDS, flourished along with the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats. ===1998–2005=== After 16 years of the Christian–Liberal coalition, led by Helmut Kohl, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) together with the Greens won the Bundestag elections of 1998.
Three factors are generally cited that enabled Schröder to win the elections despite poor approval ratings a few months before and a weaker economy: good handling of the 100-year flood, firm opposition to the US 2003 invasion of Iraq, and Stoiber's unpopularity in the east, which cost the CDU crucial seats there. In its second term, the red–green coalition lost several very important state elections, for example in Lower Saxony where Schröder was the prime minister from 1990 to 1998.
Germany is part of the Schengen Area, and has been a member of the eurozone since 1999.
Lafontaine left the government (and later his party) in early 1999.
The CDU won in some important state elections but was hit in 2000 by a party donation scandal from the Kohl years.
As a result of this Christian Democratic Union (CDU) crisis, Angela Merkel became chair. The next election for the Bundestag was on 22 September 2002.
The Christian Democrats even lost votes compared to 2002, narrowly reaching the first place with only 35.2%, and failed to get a majority for a "black–yellow" government of CDU/CSU and liberal FDP.
Three factors are generally cited that enabled Schröder to win the elections despite poor approval ratings a few months before and a weaker economy: good handling of the 100-year flood, firm opposition to the US 2003 invasion of Iraq, and Stoiber's unpopularity in the east, which cost the CDU crucial seats there. In its second term, the red–green coalition lost several very important state elections, for example in Lower Saxony where Schröder was the prime minister from 1990 to 1998.
On 20 April 2003, chancellor Schröder announced massive labor market reforms, called Agenda 2010, that cut unemployment benefits.
Although these reforms sparked massive protests, they are now credited with being in part responsible for the relatively strong economic performance of Germany during the euro-crisis and the decrease in unemployment in Germany in the years 2006–2007. ===2005–2009=== On 22 May 2005 the SPD received a devastating defeat in its former heartland, North Rhine-Westphalia.
The CDU quickly announced Angela Merkel as Christian Democrat candidate for chancellor, aspiring to be the first female chancellor in German history. New for the 2005 election was the alliance between the newly formed Electoral Alternative for Labor and Social Justice (WASG) and the PDS, planning to fuse into a common party (see Left Party.PDS).
Polls in July saw them as high as 12%. Whereas in May and June 2005 victory of the Christian Democrats seemed highly likely, with some polls giving them an absolute majority, this picture changed shortly before the election on 18 September 2005. The election results of 18 September were surprising because they differed widely from the polls of the previous weeks.
On 22 November 2005, Angela Merkel was sworn in by president Horst Köhler for the office of Bundeskanzlerin. The existence of the grand coalition on federal level helped smaller parties' electoral prospects in state elections.
Although these reforms sparked massive protests, they are now credited with being in part responsible for the relatively strong economic performance of Germany during the euro-crisis and the decrease in unemployment in Germany in the years 2006–2007. ===2005–2009=== On 22 May 2005 the SPD received a devastating defeat in its former heartland, North Rhine-Westphalia.
Since in 2008, the CSU lost its absolute majority in Bavaria and formed a coalition with the FDP, the grand coalition had no majority in the Bundesrat and depended on FDP votes on important issues.
In November 2008, the SPD re-elected its already retired chair Franz Müntefering and made Frank-Walter Steinmeier its leading candidate for the federal election in September 2009. As a result of that federal election, the grand coalition brought losses for both parties and came to an end.
The FDP had promised to lower taxes in the electoral campaign, but after being part of the coalition they had to concede that this was not possible due to the economic crisis of 2008.
In November 2008, the SPD re-elected its already retired chair Franz Müntefering and made Frank-Walter Steinmeier its leading candidate for the federal election in September 2009. As a result of that federal election, the grand coalition brought losses for both parties and came to an end.
The three smaller parties thus had more seats in the German Bundestag than ever before, with the liberal party FDP winning 14.6% of votes. === 2009–2013 === The CDU/CSU and FDP together held 332 seats (of 622 total seats) and had been in coalition since 27 October 2009.
On 20 April 2003, chancellor Schröder announced massive labor market reforms, called Agenda 2010, that cut unemployment benefits.
The only two opposition parties were The Left (64 seats) and Alliance '90/The Greens (63 seats), which was acknowledged as creating a critical situation in which the opposition parties did not even have enough seats to use the special controlling powers of the opposition. === Since 2017 === The 19th federal elections in Germany took place on 24 September 2017.
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