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CAPS > Germany > Flashcards

Germany Flashcards

1
Q

Weimar republic 1919-1933

A

Weimar Republic (1919-1933);
|
|—> First experience with democracy;
|—> Polarised parliamentarism;
|—> Economic depression (extreme depreciation of the currency);
|
National-socialists convinced democrats that they would save the economy;
|
|—> Increased its electoral success and Hitler’s popular support;

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2
Q

Nazi regime 1933-1945

A

Fascism, nationalism, reign of terror, mass meeting and nationalsocialism
—> Extremely destructive to Germany;
|—> Massive casualties (not only in war zones but also in
concentration camps);

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3
Q

DDR

A

 Soviet zone
 Founded in 1949
 One party communist state led by SED, strongly controlled by Moscow

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4
Q

Reunification

A

Fall of Berlin wall 1989, German unity act 1990 3 oct
DDR merged into BRD political system

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5
Q

Militant democracy

A
  • 1949 Basic Law (constitution) - measures to “defend the liberal democratic order”;
  • Parts of Basic Law cannot be changed (“Ewigkeitsklausel”/eternity clause - fundamental right,
    federalism and democracy);
  • Parties enshrined in Basic Law;
  • Powerful Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht);
    |—> Can ban/outlaw political parties;
    |—> Socialist Imperial Party (1952) denied Holocaust and was prohibited to run by the
    | court;
    |—> Communist party of Germany (1956) programme calls for aggressive methods and
    | was stopped by this court;
    |—> National (democratic) party of Germany (2017) was established as unconstitutional
    but not relevant enough to ban;
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6
Q

Parliamentary system

A
  • Proportional electoral system;
    |
    |—> Multi-party system;
    |—> Coalition government (all governments have emerged trough coalitions);
  • Ceremonial president (Bundesprasident);
  • Chancellor and government depend on parliamentary majority;
  • Only “constructive” motion of no-confidence;
  • Strong bicameral parliament (Federal Diet and Federal Council);
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7
Q

Elections in Germany

A

Mixed-member proportional electoral system
|
Combines…
|
|—> Single-member districts: (ertstimme) first vote - majoritarian (299 mandates in 299 districts);
|—> Multi-member districts: (zweitstimme) second vote - proportional (min. 299 mandates in distributed across
the 16 states);
|
Electoral threshold for second votes (minimum 5% of 2nd votes or minimum 3 direct
mandates from 1st vote);

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8
Q

Überhangmandate

A

Party obtains more direct mandates than proportional result indicates, they get some more seats

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9
Q

Ausgleichmandate

A

To correct for disproportionalities created by überhangmandate. Adds extra seats to parties without überhangmandate for a more proportional result

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10
Q

CDU/CSU Interconfessional

A
  • Christian democrat
  • Conservative values
  • Pro-market but also pro welfare
  • Pro EU
  • Catch all party
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11
Q

SPD

A
  • Social democrat
  • Pro welfare
  • Pro EU
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12
Q

FDP Kingmaker party

A
  • Pro market, pro business
  • Socially progressive
  • Austerity and smaller bureaucracy
  • Recent decades -> more right wing – liberalism
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13
Q

Greens

A
  • Post material values
  • Environment
  • Pacifism
  • Social equality
     1998-2005: coalition with SPD (rot-grün) since 2021 again in government
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14
Q

Die linke

A
  • Democratic socialism
  • Economic equality
  • Working class rights
  • EU skepticism
  • Pacifism
     Not seen as acceptable coalition partner
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15
Q

AFD

A
  • Nativist
  • Nationalist
  • Anti immigrant / xenophobic
  • Anti EU
  • Socially conservative
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16
Q

Federalism

A

 Part of militant democracy
 16 federal states
 Jurisdiction
* Education
* Law enforcement
* Regional planning
 More unified than constitution suggests
 Cooperative federalism
 Symmetric federalism

17
Q

Rise of AFD

A

o Since 2013 = shift to radical right accompanied by growth
o Spiegel 2019 = how should the country deal with a party that is becoming ever bigger and more extreme, but also has roots in the middle of the country’s parliamentary democracy?
o Response of mainstream parties = cordon sanitaire (boycott)
 But debate in CDU about potential collaboration with AFD
The globalization cleavage has separated parties in
polarised issues such as migration.
|
|—> This leads parties to adopt different types off
positions to address this issues (polarisation) -
which is the case of the radical stances of AfD;

18
Q

Voorkennis

A

In the 1800s, Germany was heavily divided. The unified state of Germany
is quite recent.
Even though being a federation with some legislative autonomy in substates, there is some cooperation between the different German “Lander”.

19
Q

Pre ww1

A

I. Loose confederation of German principalities in the Holy Roman Empire (800-900);
II. “Zollverein” - customs union (1834);
III. German unification under Bismarck, “The Iron Chancellor” - foundation of Second Reich
(1871);
IV. Authoritarian and militarist state - led into WW1 by Wilhelm II (1871-1918);
V. WW1 (1914-1918);

20
Q

Foundation DDR and BRD

A

X. Foundation of FRG and GDR (1949);
* West - Federal Republic of Germany
|
|—> American, British and French zones;
|—> Basic law (Grundgesetz) approved in 1949;
|—> Establishes a parliamentary democracy;
* East - German Democratic Republic (GDR)
|
|—> Soviet zone;
|—> Founded in 1949;
|—> One-party communist state led by SED;
|—> A lot of the people from the East tried to go to the West —> Berlin Wall (1961-1989);
XI. FRG is founding member of ECSC (EU predecessor);
XII. FRG joins NATO and GDR joins Warsaw Pact (1955);
XIII.Berlin Wall (1961-1989);
XIV.German reunification (1990);
|
|—> Fall of Berlin Wall (9th November 1989);
|—> German Unity day (3rd October 1990);
|—> DDR merged into BRD political system;

21
Q

Religious cleavage

A
  • Historically - Catholic Vs. Protestant;
  • Also slowed-down German unification;
  • Lost saliency after WW2;
  • East has much lower religious affiliation;
22
Q

Class cleavage

A
  • Industrialisation produces class cleavage
    (mid-1800s);
  • Strong Labour unions;
  • Partial crossing with religion;
  • Unification changed both religious and class
    composition;
23
Q

Centre-periphery cleavage

A
  • Progressively weakened after unification;
  • Bavaria and South-Schleswig are the exceptions;
  • East perceives itself as the periphery;
24
Q

Head of state - president

A
  • Mainly representative function;
  • Proposes Chancellor (but has limited room of manoeuvre - usually appoints the candidate of
    the largest coalition partner);
  • Must sign laws, treaties and pardons to convicted criminals;
  • Can refuse laws if deemed unconstitutional;
  • Elected for 5 years by Federal Convention (federal diet and delegates of state legislatures);
  • Maximum of 2 terms;
25
Q

Parliament - Federal Diet/Bundestag (lower house)

A
  • 598 MPs minimum (currently has 736);
  • Members are elected via two-vote system (SMD+PR) for 4 years;
  • Stronger of two houses (working parliament);
  • Proposes and votes legislation;
  • Elects the chancellor and can remove him trough a constructive vote of no confidence,
    having to present a replacement (chancellors can also call for a motion of confidence, and if
    that motion fails to win a majority, the legislature can be dissolved, and new elections can be
    convened);
26
Q

Parliament - Federal Council/Bundesrat (upper house)

A
  • 69 members;
  • Members are appointed by the state governments and the
    minister president of a state is usually the head of the state
    delegation (changes composition after each state election);
  • Second “federal” chamber;
  • Has significant power;
  • Must approve all laws and constitutional amendments (can be
    overridden by diet for matters not immediately concerning the
    states);
27
Q

Head of government - chancellor

A
  • Elected by federal diet on proposition of president;
  • Appoints cabinet members/ministers (they don’t need to be MPs and they should cease to
    be if they were elected as one);
  • Tradition of coalition governments (due to largely proportional electoral system);
  • Collective responsibility (maintain the coalition);
  • Cabinet proposes and executes laws;
28
Q

Judiciary

A
  • Branched judiciary (criminal, civil and administrative);
  • Judging based on codification, rather than common law;
  • Federal Constitutional Court (16 judges elected, half by each house with a 2/3 majority, for
    12 years or until 68 years old);
29
Q

Local government

A
  • Federal state;
  • 16 federal entities - states/bundeslander/lander (that have a direct check on the federal
    government via their representation in the upper house);
  • Symmetric federalism (same competences for all);
  • Reserved federal competences: Foreign affairs, monetary policy and tolls, etc.
  • Federated competences: education and culture, state judiciary and law enforcement,
    residual competences, etc.
  • More unified than constitution suggests cooperative federalism;

CAPS (10 decks)

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