1.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
2.
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
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The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is the constitutional law of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Basic Law was approved on 8 May 1949 in Bonn and its original field of application comprised the states of the Trizone that were initially included in the then West German Federal Republic of Germany, but not West Berlin. As part of the Two Plus Four Agreement of 1990 between the two parts of Germany and all four Allied Powers, a series of amendments were agreed to be implemented. In the subsequent Unification Treaty of 1990, this amended Basic Law was adopted as the constitution for a united Germany, the German word Grundgesetz may be translated as either Basic Law or Fundamental Law. Nevertheless, although the amended Basic Law was finally to be approved in 1990 by the full Allied Powers, 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, Fundamental rights are guaranteed in Germany by the Federal Constitution and in some state constitutions. In the Basic Law, most fundamental rights are guaranteed in the first section of the same name and they are subjective public rights with constitutional rank which bind all authorities of the state. Hence, these rights are called the rights identical to fundamental rights, since initially the Basic Law did not apply for all of Germany, its legal provisions were only valid in its field of application. This legal term was used in West German legislation when West German laws did not apply to the entirety of Germany. Article 23 of the Basic Law provided other de jure German states, initially not included in the field of application of the Basic Law, therefore, although the Basic Law was considered provisional, it allowed more parts of Germany to join its field of application. In other parts of Germany it shall be put into force on their accession, the Saar held no separate referendum on its accession. The Communist regime in East Germany fell in 1990, East Germanys declaration of accession included the East German territories into the field of application of the Basic Law. After the changes of the Basic Law, mostly pertaining to the accession in 1990, the negotiations ended with the conclusion that a democratic and federal West German state was to be established. These papers—amongst other points—summoned the Ministerpräsidenten to arrange a constitutional assembly, with the specific request of a federal structure of a future German state the Western Powers followed German constitutional tradition since the foundation of the Reich in 1871. The Ministerpräsidenten were reluctant to fulfill what was expected from them, a few days later they convened a conference of their own on Rittersturz ridge near Koblenz. They decided that any of the Frankfurt requirements should only be implemented in a formally provisional way, so the constitutional assembly was to be called Parlamentarischer Rat and the constitution given the name of Grundgesetz instead of calling it a constitution. The Ministerpräsidenten prevailed and the Western Powers gave in concerning this highly symbolic question, the draft was prepared at the preliminary Herrenchiemsee convention on the Herreninsel in the Chiemsee, a lake in southeastern Bavaria. The delegates at the Convention were appointed by the leaders of the newly formed Länder, on 1 September 1948 the Parlamentarischer Rat began working on the exact wording of the Grundgesetz
3.
Human rights in Germany
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Human rights in Germany are protected extensively by the Grundgesetz. The country has ratified most international human rights treaties, the 2008 Freedom in the World report by US-funded Freedom House gives Germany a score of 1 for both political rights and civil liberties. The constitution of Germany, the Grundgesetz, which came into effect in May 8,1949 and its first sentence, Human dignity is inviolable, is being interpreted as protecting the sum of human rights. This paragraph is protected by an eternity clause and cannot be changed, however, following experiences from the Weimar Republic, Germany sees itself as a wehrhafte Demokratie, actions targeted towards removing the democratic order are not covered by human rights. The constitution guarantees all rights from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights allows citizens to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Mandatory military service for citizens was established in 1956. At any time, conscientious objectors can opt to do Zivildienst instead, for the time of both services, many human rights such as freedom of movement are suspended. Since 1 July 2011, the government no longer has the ability to exercise the right under this article, however, there are no plans to abolish laws allowing conscription. Germany is also a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council and it recognizes the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The 2008 Freedom in the World report by US-funded Freedom House gives Germany a score of 1 for both political rights and civil liberties, remand must be ordered by a judge. Usually, a suspect cannot be detained for more than six months without a conviction, the German citizen Khalid El-Masri was abducted by the CIA in 2005 and interred without trial for months, although innocent. German intelligence was informed early about this, but undertook nothing, Freedom of speech is guaranteed by the constitution. However, Volksverhetzung is a crime, defined as spreading hate against or insult against a part of the population, in 1994, a paragraph explicitly forbidding denial of Nazi crimes was added. Open-air public rallies require prior announcement to the authorities. Local authorities can prohibit rallies only on grounds of safety concerns or involvement of outlawed organizations. Freedom of press is very established in Germany, the 2009 Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders rates Germany at place 18 of 175 countries. The scandal led to the dismissial of Strauß from office and severely damaged the reputation of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. In 2005, minister of the interior Otto Schily authorized a raid of offices of the periodical Cicero, the raid was based on a substantiated suspicion of leaking of state secrets
4.
Federal Constitutional Court
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The Federal Constitutional Court is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law of Germany. The main task of the court is judicial review, and it may declare legislation unconstitutional, the courts jurisdiction is focused on constitutional issues and the compliance of all governmental institutions with the constitution. Article 20 Section 3 of the Basic Law stipulates that all three branches of the state are bound directly by the constitution, as a result, the court can rule acts of any branches unconstitutional, whether as formal violations or as material conflicts. The powers of the Federal Constitutional Court are defined in article 93 of the Grundgesetz and this constitutional norm is set out in a federal law, the Federal Constitutional Court Act, which also defines how decisions of the court on material conflicts are put into force. Although only a fraction of these are actually successful, several have resulted in major legislation being invalidated. The large majority of the courts procedures fall into category,135,968 such complaints were filed from 1957 to 2002. Abstract regulation control, Several political institutions, including the governments of the Bundesländer, a well-known example of this procedure was the 1975 abortion decision, which invalidated legislation intended to decriminalise abortion. Federal dispute, Federal institutions, including members of the Bundestag, state–federal dispute, The Länder may bring disputes over competences and procedures between the states and federal institutions before the court. Investigation committee control Federal election scrutiny, Violations of election laws may be brought before the court by political institution or any involved voter, prohibition of a political party, Only the Constitutional Court has the power to ban a political party in Germany. This has happened just twice, both times in the 1950s, the Socialist Reich Party, a group, was banned in 1952. Three judges objected to continuing which was sufficient as banning a party requires a two-thirds-majority, the court did not decide on the ban itself. Up to 2009, the Constitutional Court had struck down more than 600 laws as unconstitutional, the court consists of two senates, each of which has eight members, headed by a senate’s chairman. The members of each senate are allocated to three chambers for hearings in constitutional complaint and single regulation control cases, each chamber consists of three judges, so each senate chairman is at the same time a member of two chambers. Decisions by a senate require a majority, in some cases a two-thirds vote is required. Decisions by a chamber need to be unanimous, a chamber is not authorized to overrule a standing precedent of the senate to which it belongs, such issues need to be submitted to the senate as a whole. Similarly, a senate may not overrule a standing precedent of the other senate, unlike all other German courts, the court often publishes the vote count on its decisions and even allows its members to issue a dissenting opinion. This possibility, introduced only in 1971, is a deviation from German judicial tradition. One of the two senate chairmen is also the president of the court, the one being the vice-president
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President of Germany
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The President of Germany, officially the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of state of Germany. Germany has a system of government in which the Chancellor is the nations leading political figure. However, the President has a role which, while not an executive post, is more than ceremonial, Presidents have extensive discretion regarding the way they exercise their official duties. The President gives direction to general political and societal debates and has some important reserve powers in case of political instability. Furthermore, all laws must be signed by the President before they can come into effect. The President, by his or her actions and public appearances, represents the state itself, its existence, its legitimacy, the Presidents office involves an integrative role and the control function of upholding the law and the constitution. In order to exercise power, he/she traditionally acts above party politics. The 12th and current officeholder is Frank-Walter Steinmeier who was elected on 12 February 2017, the convention consists of all Bundestag members as well as an equal number of electors elected by the state legislatures in proportion to their respective population. However it is not required that state electors themselves be members of a legislature, the body is convened and chaired by the President of the German Bundestag. From 1979 to 2009, all these conventions were held on 23 May, in the first two rounds of the election, the Federal Convention attempts to elect a president by an absolute majority of votes cast. If, after two votes, no candidate has received this level of support, in the third. The result of the election is determined by party politics. Usually, the candidate of the majority party or coalition in the Bundestag is considered to be the likely winner, however, if the opposition has turned in a strong showing in state elections, it can potentially have enough support to defeat the governments candidate. For this reason, presidential elections can indicate the result of a general election. According to a long-standing adage in German politics, if you can create a president, you can form a government. The office of president is open to all Germans who are entitled to vote in Bundestag elections and have reached the age of 40, but no one may serve more than two consecutive five-year terms. As yet, only four Presidents have been elected for a second term, the president must not be a member of the federal government or of a legislature at either the federal or state level. On taking office the President must take the oath, stipulated by Article 56 of the Basic Law, in a joint session of the Bundestag
6.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
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Frank-Walter Steinmeier is the President of Germany, serving since 19 March 2017. He previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017 and he was chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 2016. Steinmeier is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and he was a close aide of Gerhard Schröder when Schröder was Prime Minister of Lower Saxony during most of the 1990s, and served as Schröders chief of staff from 1996. When Schröder became Chancellor of Germany in 1998, Steinmeier was appointed Under-Secretary of State in the German Chancellery with the responsibility for the intelligence services, from 1999 to 2005 he served as Chief of Staff of the Chancellery. Following the 2005 federal election, Steinmeier became Foreign Minister in the first grand coalition government of Angela Merkel, in 2008, he briefly served as acting chairman of his party. He was the SPDs candidate for chancellor in the 2009 federal election, following the 2013 federal election he again became Minister for Foreign Affairs in Merkels second grand coalition. He was elected as President by the Federal Convention on 12 February 2017 and he acquired the necessary majority in the first round of voting by receiving 931 electoral votes out of a total of 1260 votes. Steinmeier belongs to the wing of the SPD, known as reformists. As chief of staff he was an architect of Agenda 2010. Steinmeier was born in Detmold, the son of a carpenter, although his full name is Frank-Walter, he only goes by the name Frank among those who know him. His father was affiliated with the Church of Lippe, one of Germanys few Calvinist regional church bodies and his mother, born in Breslau, came as a refugee from a Lutheran part of Silesia during the flight and expulsion of Germans after World War II. Frank-Walter was baptized into his fathers church—the Church of Lippe, a church of the Evangelical Church of Germany. Following his Abitur, he served his military service from 1974 until 1976 and he then studied law and political science at the Justus Liebig University Giessen, where his fellow students included Brigitte Zypries. In 1982 he passed his first and 1986 his second examination in law. He worked as an assistant to the professor of public law. His dissertation explored the role of the state in the prevention of homelessness, Steinmeier became an adviser in 1991 for law of communication media and media guidelines in the state Chancellery of Lower Saxony in Hanover. In 1993, he director of the personal office for the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony. In 1996, he became the Undersecretary of State and Director of the State Chancellery of Lower Saxony, Steinmeier was appointed in November 1998 as undersecretary of state at the office of the chancellor following Schröders election victory
7.
Angela Merkel
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Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German politician who is currently Chancellor of Germany. She is also the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Merkel has been described at various times as the de facto leader of the European Union, the most powerful woman in the world, and the worlds second most powerful person. Following German reunification in 1990, Merkel was elected to the Bundestag for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Merkel was appointed as the Minister for Women and Youth in the federal government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1991, and became the Minister for the Environment in 1994. In the 2009 federal election, the CDU obtained the largest share of the vote, in 2007, Merkel was President of the European Council and chaired the G8, the second woman to do so. Merkel played a role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lisbon. One of Merkels consistent priorities has been to strengthen economic relations. Merkel played a role in managing the financial crisis at the European and international level. On 26 March 2014, Merkel became the incumbent head of government in the European Union. On 20 November 2016, Merkel announced she would seek re-election to a fourth term and she has two younger siblings, her brother Marcus Kasner, a physicist, and her sister Irene Kasner, an occupational therapist. In her childhood and youth, Merkel was known among her peers by the nickname Kasi, Merkel is of Polish and German descent. Her paternal grandfather Ludwik Kaźmierczak was a German policeman of Polish ethnicity and he married Merkels grandmother Margarethe, a German girl from Berlin, and relocated to her hometown where he worked in the police. In 1930 they Germanized the Polish name Kaźmierczak to Kasner, Merkels maternal grandparents were the Danzig politician Willi Jentzsch and Gertrud Alma née Drange, a daughter of the city clerk of Elbing Emil Drange. Merkel has mentioned her Polish heritage on several occasions, but her Polish roots became better known as a result of a 2013 biography, religion played a key role in the Kasner familys migration from West Germany to East Germany. In 1954, he received a pastorate at the church in Quitzow, the family moved to Templin and Merkel grew up in the countryside 80 km north of East Berlin. Like most young people in the German Democratic Republic, Merkel was a member of the Free German Youth, membership was nominally voluntary, but those who did not join found it difficult to gain admission to higher education. She did not participate in the coming of age ceremony Jugendweihe, however. Later, at the Academy of Sciences, she became a member of the FDJ district board, Merkel claimed that she was secretary for culture. When Merkels one-time FDJ district chairman contradicted her, she insisted that, According to my memory, I believe I wont know anything when Im 80
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Vice-Chancellor of Germany
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The Deputy to the Federal Chancellor, widely known as the Vice Chancellor of Germany is, according to protocol, the second highest position in the Cabinet of Germany. He is the equivalent of a deputy minister in other parliamentary systems. The current Vice Chancellor is Sigmar Gabriel, who is the president of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, as provided by the Basic Law, Vice Chancellor is not an independent office, but a position held by one of the ministers. Since 1966, it has often held by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It is the Chancellor who chooses which minister serves as Vice Chancellor, since coalition governments are common in German politics, the Vice Chancellor is in most cases the president of the junior coalition partner. In case of the Chancellors absence, the Vice Chancellor acts in his or her place, the Vice Chancellor will not automatically become Chancellor for the rest of the term if the Chancellor dies or becomes unable to fulfill his or her duties in any other way. It is the President who asks a minister to fulfill the Chancellors duties until the Bundestag elects a new Chancellor and this has happened only once, Vice Chancellor Walter Scheel was acting Chancellor for a few days in May 1974 between Chancellor Willy Brandt’s resignation and Helmut Schmidt’s election. In addition to the deputy, who would be responsible for all the affairs of the Chancellor. The act was revised on 28 October 1918, when the possibility of appointing deputies with limited responsibilities was removed, Political Party, FKP FVP Political Party, DDP Centre DVP SPD DNVP Political Party, NSDAP Political Party, FDP CDU SPD Green
9.
Olaf Scholz
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Olaf Scholz is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and First Mayor of Hamburg since 7 March 2011. A former Vice President of the International Union of Socialist Youth, Scholz served as the SPD parliamentary group’s spokesperson on the inquiry committee investigating the German Visa Affair in 2005. Following the federal elections later that year, he served as First Parliamentary Secretary of the SPD parliamentary group, in this capacity, he worked closely with the CDU parliamentary floor manager Norbert Röttgen to manage and defend the grand coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel in parliament. He also served as member of the Parliamentary Control Panel, which provides oversight of Germany’s intelligence services BND, MAD. Scholz succeeded Franz Müntefering as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the first cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel, following the 2009 elections, Scholz served as deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group. Between 2009 and 2011, he served on the group’s Afghanistan/Pakistan Task Force, in 2010 he also participated in the annual Bilderberg Meeting in Sitges, Spain. On 20 February 2011 the Social Democrats led by Scholz won the 2011 Hamburg state election with 48. 3% of the votes, resulting in 62 out of 121 seats in the Hamburg Parliament. Scholz resigned as a member of the seventeenth Bundestag on 11 March 2011 shortly after his election as First Mayor, Dorothee Stapelfeldt, on June 7,2011, Scholz attended the state dinner hosted by President Barack Obama in honor of Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House. As host of Hamburg’s annual St, Scholz participated in the exploratory talks between the CDU, CSU and SPD parties to form a coalition government following the 2013 federal elections. In the subsequent negotiations, he led the SPD delegation in the financial policy working group, alongside fellow Social Democrats Jörg Asmussen and Thomas Oppermann, Scholz was considered a possible successor to Schäuble in the post of finance minister at the time. Since January 2015, he has been serving as Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Germany for Cultural Affairs under the Treaty on Franco-German Cooperation, under Scholz’ leadership, the Social Democrats handily won the 2015 state elections in Hamburg, receiving around 47 percent of the vote. His coalition government with the Green Party – with Green leader Katharina Fegebank serving as Deputy First Mayor – was sworn in on 15 April 2015. When the editors said they would go ahead and publish it without authorization, olaf Scholz is married with Britta Ernst, they have no children
10.
Cabinet of Germany
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The Cabinet of Germany is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Chancellor and the cabinet ministers, the Chancellor is elected by the federal parliament after being proposed by the President. Following the election, the Chancellor is appointed by the President, the ministers are appointed by the President upon proposal of the Chancellor. Eventually, before taking office, the Chancellor and ministers swear an oath in front of the parliament, the Chancellor is responsible for guiding the cabinet and deciding its political direction. According to the principle of departmentalization, the ministers are free to carry out their duties independently within the boundaries set by the Chancellors political directives. The Chancellor also decides the scope of each ministers duties, if two ministers disagree on a particular point, the cabinet resolves the conflict by a majority vote. The Chancellor is in charge of the administrative affairs, which are usually delegated to the head of the Chancellery. Details are laid down in the rules for internal procedures. These state, for example, that the cabinet is quorate only if at least half of the ministers including the chair are present, the cabinet regularly convenes Wednesday mornings in the Chancellery. According to established practice, decisions on important armaments exports are made by the Federal Security Council, pursuant to its rules of procedure, its sessions are confidential. As a general rule, the Federal Government, if asked, is required to inform the Bundestag that the Federal Security Council has approved a given armaments export transaction or not
11.
Federal Convention (Germany)
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The Federal Convention mirrors the aggregated majority situation of the Bundestag and the parliaments of the 16 German federal states. The Basic Law mandates that a maximum of three votes can be held, on the first two rounds a candidate must receive an absolute majority of delegates to be elected. After that, in the round, a plurality of all delegates voting is sufficient for election to the office of Federal President. Any delegate may nominate candidates, usually every parliamentary group puts forth candidates, the Basic Law charges the President of the Bundestag the responsibility and authority to call a meeting of the Bundesversammlung. Each member of the Bundesversammlung may suggest candidates for the office of the Federal President, in practice however only the candidates designated in advance by the parliamentary groups are suggested. The procedure of the election of the Bundespräsident consists of a maximum of three secret votes by written ballot, if one of the first two votes ends with an absolute majority for one of the candidates, this candidate is elected immediately. If the first two votes do not lead to a majority, a plurality is sufficient in the third. According to the Grundgesetz, the President is elected without a debate at the Federal Convention, the candidates are usually nominated by one or more parties, but do not generally run a campaign. The President of the Bundestag closes the session of the Bundesversammlung once the candidate accepts. The Bundesversammlung is chaired by the President of the Bundestag, the Bundesversammlung is dissolved once the elected President declares that they accept their election, which decision may be delayed for up to two days. The Länder representatives are not solely politicians and it is common that the parties nominate several notable people from television, sports and the music industry. Still most of the Länder representatives are politicians, especially those in the state cabinet are often nominated. This has changed since the resignations of former presidents Horst Koehler, the most recent assembly of the Bundesversammlung was held on 12 February 2017, after Frank-Walter Steinmeier was chosen as the single candidate of the ruling coalition in November. On 12 September 1949, the first Bundesversammlung met in Bonn, from 1954 to 1969 the Bundesversammlung was convened at the Ostpreußenhalle in Berlin, leading to protests from the German Democratic Republic on each occasion it met. As a consequence, on March 5,1969, the Soviet Union overflew the venue with MiG-21 war planes, from 1974 to 1989, the Bundesversammlung met in the Beethovenhalle in Bonn. Since 1994, the place has been the Reichstag building in Berlin. After the renovation of the Reichstag building, the German Bundestag moved to the building in April 1999, since the meeting of the Bundesversammlung held in May 1999, the body has convened in the plenary chamber of the Bundestag at the Reichstag building
12.
Bundesrat of Germany
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The German Bundesrat is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder of Germany at the national level. The Bundesrat meets at the former Prussian House of Lords in Berlin and its second seat is located in the former West German capital of Bonn. For its similar function, it is described as an upper house of parliament along the lines of the US Senate. Bundesrath was the name of similar bodies in the North German Confederation and its predecessor in the Weimar Republic was the Reichsrat. The political makeup of the Bundesrat is affected by changes in power in the states of Germany, each state delegation in the Bundesrat is essentially a representation of the state government and reflects the political makeup of the ruling majority or plurality of each state legislature. The German Bundesrat was first founded, together with the North German Confederation and it was continued under the same name and with the same functions by the German Empire, in 1871. Under the Weimar Constitution,1919, it was replaced by the Reichsrat, whilst appointed by state governments just as today, the delegates of the original Bundesrat—as those of the Reichsrat—were usually high-ranking civil servants, not cabinet members. The original Bundesrat was very powerful, every bill needed its consent and it could also, with the Emperors agreement, dissolve the Reichstag. The Reichsrat of the Weimar Republic had considerably less influence, since it could only veto bills—and even then be overruled by the Reichstag, however, overruling the Reichsrat needed a majority of two-thirds in the Reichstag, which consisted of many parties differing in opinion. So, in most cases, bills vetoed by the Reichsrat failed due to the lack of unity among the Reichstags constituent parties. The Bundesrat met in the building as the Reichstag and Bundestag from 1871 until 2000. The composition of the Bundesrat, 1871–1919, was as follows, Bundesrat members are not elected—either by popular vote or by the state parliaments—but are delegated by the respective state government. Normally, a state consists of the Minister President and other cabinet ministers. The state cabinet may appoint as many delegates as the state has votes, in any case, the state has to cast its votes en bloc, i. e. without vote splitting. As state elections are not coordinated across Germany and can occur at any time, the number of votes a state is allocated is based on a form of degressive proportionality according to its population. This way, smaller states have more votes than a proportional to the population would grant. The allocation of votes is regulated by the German constitution, all of a states votes are cast en bloc—either for or against or in abstention of a proposal. Each state is allocated at least three votes, and a maximum of six, states with more than 2 million inhabitants have 4 votes,6 million inhabitants have 5 votes,7 million inhabitants have 6 votes
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Bundestag
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The Bundestag is a constitutional and legislative body at the federal level in Germany. For its similar function, it is described as a lower house of parliament along the lines of the US House of Representatives. The German constitution, however, does not define the Bundestag, since 1999 it has met in the Reichstag Building in Berlin. Norbert Lammert is the current President of the Bundestag, Members of the Bundestag are usually elected every four years by all adult German citizens in a mixed system of constituency voting and list voting. There are currently 631 seats, however, one – belonging to the CDU – remains vacant. The Election Day, however, can be if the Federal Chancellor loses a vote of no confidence. In the 19th century the name Bundestag was the designation for the assembly of the sovereigns and mayors of the Monarchies. Its seat was in the Free City of Frankfurt on the Main, two decades later, the current parliament building was erected. The Reichstag delegates were elected by direct and equal male suffrage, the Reichstag did not participate in the appointment of the Chancellor until the parliamentary reforms of October 1918. After this the Reichstag met only rarely, usually at the Krolloper following the Reichstag fire starting in 1933 to unanimously rubber-stamp the decisions of the government and it last convened on 26 April 1942. With the new constitution of 1949, the Bundestag was established as the new German parliament, the Bundeshaus in Bonn is the former Parliament Building of Germany. The sessions of the German Bundestag were held there from 1949 until its move to Berlin in 1999, today it houses the International Congress Centre Bundeshaus Bonn and in the north areas the branch office of the Bundesrat. The southern areas became part of German offices for the United Nations in 2008, the former Reichstag building housed a history exhibition and served occasionally as a conference center. The Reichstag building was occasionally used as a venue for sittings of the Bundestag and its committees and the Bundesversammlung. In 2005, an aircraft crashed close to the German parliament. It was then decided to ban private air traffic over Central Berlin, together with the Bundesrat, the Bundestag is the legislative branch of the German political system. The committees play a prominent role in this process, Plenary sessions provide a forum for members to engage in public debate on legislative issues before them, but they tend to be well attended only when significant legislation is being considered. This check on executive power can be employed through binding legislation, public debates on government policy, investigations, for example, the Bundestag can conduct a question hour, in which a government representative responds to a previously submitted written question from a member
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Judiciary of Germany
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The judiciary of Germany is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in Germany. The German legal system is a civil law based on a comprehensive compendium of statutes. In Germany, the independence of the judiciary is historically older than democracy, the organisation of courts is traditionally strong, and almost all federal and state actions are subject to judicial review. Judges follow a career path. They then must pass a state examination that qualifies them to practice law. At that point, the individual can choose either to be a lawyer or to enter the judiciary, judicial candidates start working at courts immediately. However, they are subjected to a period of up to five years before being appointed as judges for life. The judicial system is established and governed by part IX of the Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, the court system adjudicates public law, that is, administrative law and criminal law, and private law. German law - especially private law - is mainly based on early Byzantine law, specifically Justinians Code, in contrast to the adversarial system used by common law countries, the German system of criminal procedure is inquisitorial. Rather than allowing cross-examination between the defense and prosecutors, the conduct the majority of the trial. The primary legislation concerning court organization is the Courts Constitution Act, the courts are characterized by being specialist, regional, and hierarchically integrated at the federal level. There are 5 basic types of courts, plus the Federal Constitutional Court, Constitutional law courts, focusing on judicial review and constitutional interpretation. Only the Constitutional Court can declare an Act of Parliament invalid, Ordinary courts are the most numerous by far. Currently there are 828 ordinary courts,142 labour courts,69 administrative courts,20 tax courts,86 social courts and 17 constitutional courts, specialized courts deal with five distinct subject areas, administrative, labour, social, fiscal, and patent law. Like the ordinary courts, they are organized hierarchically with the court systems under a federal appeals court. Administrative law courts consist of local courts, higher administrative courts. In these courts, individuals can have wrongful administrative acts overturned, for instance, many lawsuits have been brought in administrative courts by citizens against the government concerning the location and safety standards of nuclear power plants. The Federal Administrative Court is the highest administrative law court, Labour law courts also function on three levels and address disputes over collective bargaining agreements and working conditions
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Federal Administrative Court (Germany)
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The Federal Administrative Court is one of the five federal supreme courts of Germany. It is the court of the last resort for all cases of administrative law. It hears appeals from the Oberverwaltungsgerichte, or Superior Administrative Courts, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht has its seat at the former Reichsgericht building in Leipzig. Everhardt Franßen, 1991-2002 Media related to Reichsgericht Leipzig - Seat of the Federal Administrative Court of Germany at Wikimedia Commons Official homepage
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Federal Court of Justice
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The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe is the highest court in the system of ordinary jurisdiction in Germany. It is the court in all matters of criminal and private law. A decision handed down by the BGH can be reversed only by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany in rare cases when the Constitutional Court rules on constitutionality, as from 1870, in the time of the North German Confederation, there was the Bundesoberhandelsgericht in Leipzig. Later, in 1871, it was renamed to Reichsoberhandelsgericht and its area of responsibility was amplified as well and this court was unsoldered by the Reichsgericht at October 1,1879, which was also in Leipzig. On 1 October 1950, five years after the German Reich had collapsed, the general function of the Federal Court of Justice is to save the uniformity of the jurisdiction on the one side, and to do law-development on the other side. So usually it just reconsiders the legal assessment of a case as a court of last resort, in some special cases they also reconsider first-instance decrees of the local courts and the regional courts. Here it can decide that an application for revision is improper —then the application gets discarded— or that it is valid – then it has to decide about the case. In the criminal law it has to decide about applications for revision against first-instance decrees of the regional courts, here it has to decide whether an application is blatantly reasonless or whether it is blatantly reasonable in support of the defendant. In both of these cases it can decide without a main trial, in any other case, it has to decide about the legal remedy after a main trial. This is to save the homogeneity of the jurisdiction, since 2000, the judgments of the Federal Court of Justice have been published on the official court website. Once a judge has been chosen by committee, he or she is appointed by the President of Germany. Only individuals who possess German citizenship within the meaning of Art and this admission is the only special admission within the German court system, in that an attorney at the Federal Court of Justice for civil cases cannot appear in any other court in the country. Admission at the Bundesgerichtshof is highly selective, as of May 2015 there are only 46 attorneys so admitted, candidates for admission are nominated by an electoral committee and are then chosen and appointed by the Federal Ministry of Justice. The requirement for a representative specifically admitted to the Federal Court of Justice does not apply in criminal cases, here, representation by any lawyer admitted to the Bar in Germany suffices. Meyers Großes Taschenlexikon in 24 Bänden, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Federal Court of Justice of Germany
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States of Germany
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Germany is a federal republic consisting of sixteen federal states. Since todays Germany was formed from a collection of several states, it has a federal constitution. The remaining 13 states are called Flächenländer, the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 was through the unification of the western states created in the aftermath of World War II. West Berlin, while not part of the Federal Republic, was largely integrated and considered as a de facto state. In 1952, following a referendum, Baden, Württemberg-Baden, in 1957, the Saar Protectorate rejoined the Federal Republic as the Saarland. Federalism is one of the constitutional principles of Germany. After 1945, new states were constituted in all four zones of occupation, in 1949, the states in the three western zones formed the Federal Republic of Germany. This is in contrast to the development in Austria, where the Bund was constituted first. The use of the term Länder dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919, before this time, the constituent states of the German Empire were called Staaten. Today, it is common to use the term Bundesland. However, this term is not used officially, neither by the constitution of 1919 nor by the Basic Law of 1949, three Länder call themselves Freistaaten, Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia. He summarizes the arguments for boundary reform in Germany. The German system of dual federalism requires strong Länder that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation, too many Länder also make coordination among them and with the federation more complicated. But several proposals have failed so far, territorial reform remains a topic in German politics. Federalism has a tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states numbering more than 300 around 1796, the number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars. After the Congress of Vienna,39 states formed the German Confederation, the new German Empire included 25 states and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. The empire was dominated by Prussia, which controlled 65% of the territory, after the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles, the remaining states continued as republics of a new German federation
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Regierungsbezirk
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Regierungsbezirk is an administrative region at federal state level in Germany. The regional authority is called a Regierungspräsidium or Bezirksregierung and is headed by a Regierungspräsident, the Regierungsbezirke do not pass any legislation. Within the federal authority, they act as a mid-level agency. Regierungsbezirk is variously translated as district, administrative district or province. By German unification in 1871, the concept of Regierungsbezirke had been adopted by most States of the German Empire, the Regierungsbezirke of North Rhine-Westphalia are in direct continuation of those created in the Prussian Rhine and Westphalia provinces in 1816. Similar entities in other states were initially named Kreishauptmannschaft or Kreis or province in Hesse, in Nazi Germany the naming was unified to Regierungsbezirk. Currently, only four large-area states out of 16 in total are divided into Regierungsbezirke, on 1 January 2004, Saxony-Anhalt disbanded its three Regierungsbezirke, Dessau, Halle and Magdeburg. The responsibilities are now covered by a Landesverwaltungsamt with three offices at the seats of the Bezirksregierungen. On 1 January 2005, Lower Saxony disbanded its remaining four Regierungsbezirke, Brunswick, Hanover, Lüneburg, on 1 August 2008, Saxony restructured its districts and changed the name of its Regierungsbezirke to Direktionsbezirke. This was necessary because one of the new districts did not fit with the borders of the old Regierungsbezirke, the Direktionsbezirke are still named Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig. As of 1 March 2012, the Direktionsbezirke were merged into one Landesdirektion, four of the new federal states re-established in 1990, Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Thuringia, decided not to implement Regierungsbezirke. In Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Saarland they never existed, stettin, dissolved in 1945, Province of Pomerania Media related to Regierungsbezirk at Wikimedia Commons
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Districts of Germany
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A German district is an administrative subdivision known as Landkreis, except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where it is known simply as Kreis. Most major cities in Germany are not part of a rural district, in this context, those cities are referred to as Kreisfreie Stadt or Stadtkreis. Rural districts are at a level of administration between the German states and the municipal governments. They correspond to level 3 administrative units of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, previously, the similar title Reichskreis was given to groups of states in the Holy Roman Empire. The related term Landeskommissariat was used for administrative divisions in some German territories until the 19th century. The majority of German districts are rural districts of which there are 295, cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not usually belong to a district, but take over district responsibilities themselves, similar to the concept of independent cities. These are known as urban districts —cities which constitute a district in their own there are currently 107 of them. As of 2011, approximately 25 million people live in these 107 urban districts, in North Rhine-Westphalia, there are some cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants which are not urban districts, for example Recklinghausen, Siegen, Paderborn, Bergisch Gladbach, Neuss and Moers. Nevertheless, these cities take over many district responsibilities themselves, although they are part of a larger rural district. Midsize towns can perform particular administrative functions of the district as well, the classification as midsize town is usually based on a towns registered population, but varies from state to state. Aachen, Hanover and Göttingen retain certain rights of an urban district, urban districts have these responsibilities and also those of the municipalities. The district council is the highest institution of a district and is responsible for all fundamental guidelines of regional self-administration. This council is elected every five years, except in Bavaria where it is elected every six years. Usually the administrative seat of a district is located in one of its largest towns. However, district council and administrative seat of rural districts are not situated within the district proper. Most of those districts are named after this central city as well. Moers is the biggest city in Germany that is neither an urban district, in parts of northern Germany, Landrat is also the name of the entire district administration, which in southern Germany is known as Kreisverwaltung or Landratsamt. In urban districts similar administrative functions are performed by a mayor, rural districts in some German states have an additional administrative commission called Kreisausschuss
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Amt (country subdivision)
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Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is equivalent to a US township or county or English shire district. The Amt is unique to the German Bundesländer of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, other German states had this subdivision in the past. Some states have similar units called Samtgemeinde, Verbandsgemeinde or Verwaltungsgemeinschaft. An Amt, as well as the other above-mentioned units, is subordinate to a Kreis and is a collection of municipalities, the amt is lower than district-level government but higher than municipal government, and may be described as a supra-municipality or municipal confederation. Normally, it consists of small municipalities. e. The Ortsteil itself may also be translated as a municipality. The amt was a unit of Denmark. The counties were established by decree in 1662 as replacements for the former Len. The amter were composed of independent towns and parishes. During the 20th century, they were granted responsibility for the service for the non-urban population. A1970 administrative reform reduced the number of counties to fourteen, from then on, the amter were composed of a number of municipalities. The reform granted the counties wider areas of responsibility, most notably running the national health service, the Danish Municipal Reform of January 1,2007 abolished the amter and replaced them with five administrative regions, now solely charged with running the national health service. In contrast to the amter the regions hold no authority to levy taxes, the reform re-delegated all other areas of responsibility to either the municipalities or the state. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, see Counties of Denmark for more information about the Danish usage of the term. In Germany an Amt was an administrative district covering a manorial estate or the land owned by a castle or village. It was headed by an Amtmann, usually a lesser nobleman or cleric, appointed by a lord to administer. Ambacht can be seen as the Dutch equivalent to amt, ambachten existed in Holland, Zeeland and Flanders up to about 1800
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Municipalities of Germany
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Municipalities are the lowest level of official territorial division in Germany. This is most commonly the fourth level of division, ranking after the Land, Kreis. The Gemeinde which is one level lower in those states also includes Regierungsbezirke as a territorial division. The Gemeinde is one level higher if it is not part of a Samtgemeinde, only 10 municipalities in Germany have fifth level administrative subdivisions and all of them are in Bavaria. The highest degree of autonomy may be found in the Gemeinden which are not part of a Kreis and these Gemeinden are referred to as Kreisfreie Städte or Stadtkreise, sometimes translated as having city status. This can be the case even for small municipalities, however, many smaller municipalities have lost this city status in various administrative reforms in the last 40 years when they were incorporated into a Kreis. In some states they retained a measure of autonomy than the other municipalities of the Kreis. Municipalities titled Stadt are urban municipalities while those titled Gemeinde are classified as rural municipalities, with more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the most populated municipality of Germany is the city of Berlin, and the least populated is Wiedenborstel, in Schleswig-Holstein. The cities of Aachen and Saarbrücken have a status, which is why the numbers in the respective states North Rhine-Westphalia. List updated on August 1,2009, list of municipalities in Germany Media related to Municipalities of Germany at Wikimedia Commons
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Elections in Germany
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Elections in Germany include elections to the Bundestag, the Landtags of the various states, and local elections. The Basic Law also requires that the legislature enact detailed federal laws to govern elections. One such article is Article 38 which is regarding the election of deputies in the federal Bundestag. Article 38.2 of the Basic Law establishes universal suffrage, Any person who has attained the age of eighteen shall be entitled to vote, German federal elections are for all members of the Bundestag, which in turn determines who is the Chancellor of Germany. Federal elections were held in 2009 and in 2013, the Reichstag could be dissolved by the Kaiser or, after the abdication of Wilhelm II in 1918, the Reichspräsident. With the Weimar Republics Constitution of 1919, the system changed from single-member constituencies to proportional representation. The election age was reduced from 25 to 20 years of age, womens suffrage had already been established by a new electoral law in 1918 following the November Revolution of that year. Following the Nazi seizure of power in January 1933, another election was held on March 5. This was the last competitive election before World War II, although it was free nor fair. Violence and intimidation by the Sturmabteilung, SS and Stahlhelm had been underway for months against trade-unionists, communists, social democrats, on February 27th, just prior to the election, the Reichstag Fire Decree suspended freedom of the press and most civil liberties. Mass arrests followed, including all Communist and several Social Democrat delegates to the Reichstag,50000 members of the Hilfspolizei monitored polling places on election day to further intimidate voters. While the NSDAP performed better than it had in the elections of November 1932, by placing their rivals in jail and intimidating others not to take their seats, the Nazis went from a plurality to the majority. Just two weeks after election, the Enabling Act of 1933 effectively gave Hitler dictatorial power, three more elections were held in Nazi Germany before the war. They all took the form of a referendum, asking voters to approve a predetermined list of candidates composed exclusively of Nazis. Should the Bundestag be dismissed before the period has ended. The exact date of the election is chosen by the President, German nationals over the age of 18 who have resided in Germany for at least three months are eligible to vote. Eligibility for candidacy is essentially the same, the federal legislature in Germany has a one chamber parliament—the Bundestag, the Bundesrat represents the regions and is not considered a chamber as its members are not elected. The Bundestag is elected using a mixed member proportional system, the Bundestag has 598 nominal members, elected for a four-year term
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Electoral system of Germany
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The German Federal Election System regulates the election of the members of the national parliament, called Bundestag. According to the governing the elections laws, set down in Art. 38 of German Basic Law, elections are to be universal, direct, free, equal, furthermore, the German Basic Law stipulates that Bundestag elections are to take place every four years and that one can vote, and be elected, upon reaching the age of 18. All other stipulations for the elections are regulated by the Federal Electoral Act. Elections always take place on a Sunday, mail votes are possible upon application. Germans elect their members of parliament with two votes, one vote is for a direct candidate, who ought to receive a plurality vote in his election district. The second vote is to elect a party list in each province as established by its respective party caucus, common practice is that direct candidates are also placed on the electoral lists at higher rankings as a fall-back if they do not win their districts. According to Article 38, §1 of the German constitution, “the delegates of the German Parliament are elected in a general, direct, free, equal and secret vote. ”These five principles of suffrage are fundamental rights, Any violation of the law can be brought up to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany in form of a constitutional complaint. An election is general, if basically every citizen can take part in it, there are no restrictions such as in terms of income, sex, health or any other arbitrary distinctions. But according to the jurisdiction of the Federal Constitutional Court, the prescription of a voting age is compatible with the commonalty of the election. The exclusion from the right to vote is also – within narrow limitations – consistent with the Basic Constitutional Law. The exclusion of the right to vote is governed by somewhat less strict regulations. The right to vote is in principle reserved for German citizens, the introduction of a right to vote for foreigners would require an alteration of §20 of the constitution. An election is if the voter’s will determines the result directly. The process of an election based on lists compiled by the parties is, however. An election is considered if the government does not compel the peoples voting decision in terms of content. According to the Federal Constitutional Courts dispensation of justice the principle of a ballot would not be harmed if a compulsory vote was introduced by the Federal Electoral Law. Electoral advertising at government expense would, however, be incompatible with this principle of electoral law, however, the Federal Government is allowed to conduct public relations if its neutrality is strictly preserved
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Referendums in Germany
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Referendums in Germany are an element of direct democracy. On the federal level only two types of a binding referendum exist – in changing the constitution and in changing the state territories. All states have an enacted laws for popular indirect initiatives allowing to collect signatures for a request to the government, the government may issue a poll on any topic whereas the outcome is usually non-binding. The term Volksinitiative is a synonym of Volksbegehren and it is the term in Switzerland. On the municipal level the three types are paralleled with Bürgerbegehren as the citizens initiative Bürgerbefragung for a local ballot question. Note that in the city states the state citizens initiative types are commonly called Bürgerbegehren while being at the legal level as Volksbegehren in other Bundesländer states. Note that the term Bürgerinitiative is used informally for non-partisan local campaign organizations, following World War II the new republic was founded with only minor elements of direct democracy. Originally none of the Bundesländer states had provisions for a binding referendum. Only Hesse and Bavaria have a binding referendum on changes to the state constitution. Most states do however have a form of a general non-binding ballot question which has been used rarely however – the most important one had been the Saar Statute referendum,1955. General forms of democracy were first introduced in the communities with facultative ballot questions. In some areas this has expanded into a binding referendum type. In some states there is however a general right on state popular initiatives which was used in Hamburg to push the government to pass a law on a facultative binding state referendum in 2007. Following World War II the right to petition to the government was installed with high barriers, any popular initiative had to filed with the authorities and the signatories have to identify before their signature is accepted. This is called Amtseintragung in most legal areas, the other type is commonly referred to as Freie Sammlung where letters may be accumulated before being handed over. Naturally some of the signatures are found to be illegal which can be a source of dispute. In order to push the government the initiative must reach an amount of valid signatures. The quorum is defined differently by each Bundelsländer state
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Foreign relations of Germany
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It maintains a network of 229 diplomatic missions abroad and holds relations with more than 190 countries. As one of the leading industrialized countries it is recognized as a major power in European. The three cabinet-level ministries responsible for guiding Germanys foreign policy are the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and the Federal Foreign Office. In practice, most German federal departments play some role in shaping policy in the sense that there are few policy areas left that remain outside of international jurisdiction. The bylaws of the Federal Cabinet, however, assign the Federal Foreign Office a coordinating function, accordingly, other ministries may only invite foreign guests or participate in treaty negotiations with the approval of the Federal Foreign Office. With respect to policy, the Bundestag acts in a supervisory capacity. Each of its committees – most notably the foreign relations committee – oversees the foreign policy. The consent of the Bundestag is required to ratify foreign treaties, there is a raft of NGOs in Germany that engage foreign policy issues. These NGOs include think-tanks, single-issue lobbying organizations, as well as organizations that promote stronger bilateral ties between Germany and other countries. While the budgets and methods of NGOs are distinct, the goal to persuade decision-makers to the wisdom of their own views is a shared one. In 2001, the discovery that the terrorist cell which carried out the attacks against the United States on 11 September 2001, was based in Hamburg, nearly all of the public was strongly against Americas 2003 invasion of Iraq, and any deployment of troops. This position was shared by the SPD/Green government, which led to friction with the United States. In August 2006, the German government disclosed a botched plot to bomb two German trains, the attack was to occur in July 2006 and involved a 21-year-old Lebanese man, identified only as Youssef Mohammed E. H. Prosecutors said Youssef and another man left suitcases stuffed with crude propane-gas bombs on the trains, German forces are mostly in the more secure north of the country. Germany is the largest net contributors of the United Nations and has several development agencies working in Africa, the development policy of the Federal Republic of Germany is an independent area of German foreign policy. It is formulated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the German government sees development policy as a joint responsibility of the international community. It is the third biggest aid donor after the United States. Germany spent 0.37 per cent of its gross domestic product on development, the international target of 0. 7% of GNP would have not been reached either
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Federation
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A federation is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central government. The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is known as federalism and it can be considered the opposite of another system, the unitary state. Federations are often multiethnic and cover an area of territory. The initial agreements create a stability that encourages other common interests, at some time, that is recognized and a movement is organized to merge more closely. At other times, especially when common cultural factors are at such as ethnicity and language. The Old Swiss Confederacy was an example of formal non-unitary statehood. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, the oldest continuous federation, and a role model for many subsequent federations, is the United States. Some of the New World federations failed, the Federal Republic of Central America broke up into independent states ten years after its founding, others, such as Argentina and Mexico, have shifted between federal, confederal, and unitary systems, before settling into federalism. Brazil became a federation only after the fall of the monarchy, australia and Canada are also federations. Germany is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815, the North German Confederation, the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations. The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Malaysia became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from the British Empire. In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq since 2005. The component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government, however, a federation is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy, however, German Länder have that power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level. Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others, an example of such a federation is Malaysia, in which Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia. A federation often emerges from an agreement between a number of separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve problems and to provide for mutual defense or to create a nation state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former was the case with the United States and Switzerland, however, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist system of a state can be quite different from these models
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Parliamentary system
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In a parliamentary system, the head of state is usually a different person from the head of government. Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders, eventually these councils have slowly evolved into the modern Parliamentary system. The first parliaments date back to Europe in the Middle Ages, for example in 1188 Alfonso IX, the modern concept of parliamentary government emerged in the Kingdom of Great Britain and its contemporary, the Parliamentary System in Sweden. In England, Simon de Montfort is remembered as one of the fathers of representative government for holding two famous parliaments, the first, in 1258, stripped the King of unlimited authority and the second, in 1265, included ordinary citizens from the towns. Later, in the 17th century, the Parliament of England pioneered some of the ideas and systems of liberal democracy culminating in the Glorious Revolution, in the Kingdom of Great Britain, the monarch, in theory, chaired cabinet and chose ministers. In practice, King George Is inability to speak English led the responsibility for chairing cabinet to go to the minister, literally the prime or first minister. By the nineteenth century, the Great Reform Act of 1832 led to parliamentary dominance, with its choice invariably deciding who was prime minister, hence the use of phrases like Her Majestys government or His Excellencys government. Nineteenth century urbanisation, industrial revolution and, modernism had already fueled the political struggle for democracy. In the radicalised times at the end of World War I, a parliamentary system may be either bicameral, with two chambers of parliament or unicameral, with just one parliamentary chamber. Scholars of democracy such as Arend Lijphart distinguish two types of parliamentary democracies, the Westminster and Consensus systems, the Westminster system is usually found in the Commonwealth of Nations and countries which were influenced by the British political tradition. These parliaments tend to have a more style of debate. The Australian House of Representatives is elected using instant-runoff voting, while the Senate is elected using proportional representation through single transferable vote, regardless of which system is used, the voting systems tend to allow the voter to vote for a named candidate rather than a closed list. The Western European parliamentary model tends to have a more consensual debating system, Consensus systems have more of a tendency to use proportional representation with open party lists than the Westminster Model legislatures. The committees of these Parliaments tend to be more important than the plenary chamber, some West European countries parliaments implement the principle of dualism as a form of separation of powers. In countries using this system, Members of Parliament have to resign their place in Parliament upon being appointed minister, ministers in those countries usually actively participate in parliamentary debates, but are not entitled to vote. Some countries such as India also require the prime minister to be a member of the legislature, the head of state appoints a prime minister who will likely have majority support in parliament. The head of state appoints a minister who must gain a vote of confidence within a set time. The head of state appoints the leader of the party holding a plurality of seats in parliament as prime minister
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Republic
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It is a government where the head of state is not a monarch. Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their ideology, composition, in the classical and medieval period of Europe, many states were fashioned on the Roman Republic, which referred to the governance of the city of Rome, between it having kings and emperors. The Italian medieval and Renaissance political tradition, today referred to as humanism, is sometimes considered to derive directly from Roman republicans such as Sallust. Republics were not equated with classical democracies such as Athens, but had a democratic aspect, Republics became more common in the Western world starting in the late 18th century, eventually displacing absolute monarchy as the most common form of government in Europe. In modern republics, the executive is legitimized both by a constitution and by popular suffrage, for instance, Article IV of the United States Constitution guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government. The term originates as the Latin translation of Greek word politeia, cicero, among other Latin writers, translated politeia as res publica and it was in turn translated by Renaissance scholars as republic. The term politeia can be translated as form of government, polity, or regime, and is therefore not always a word for a specific type of regime as the modern word republic is. And also amongst classical Latin, the term republic can be used in a way to refer to any regime. In medieval Northern Italy, a number of city states had commune or signoria based governments, in the late Middle Ages, writers, such as Giovanni Villani, began writing about the nature of these states and the differences from other types of regime. They used terms such as libertas populi, a free people, the terminology changed in the 15th century as the renewed interest in the writings of Ancient Rome caused writers to prefer using classical terminology. To describe non-monarchical states writers, most importantly Leonardo Bruni, adopted the Latin phrase res publica. While Bruni and Machiavelli used the term to describe the states of Northern Italy, which were not monarchies, the term can quite literally be translated as public matter. It was most often used by Roman writers to refer to the state and government, in subsequent centuries, the English word commonwealth came to be used as a translation of res publica, and its use in English was comparable to how the Romans used the term res publica. Notably, during The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell the word commonwealth was the most common term to call the new monarchless state, likewise, in Polish, the term was translated as rzeczpospolita, although the translation is now only used with respect to Poland. Presently, the term republic commonly means a system of government which derives its power from the rather than from another basis. After the classical period, during the Middle Ages, many cities developed again. The modern type of itself is different from any type of state found in the classical world. Nevertheless, there are a number of states of the era that are today still called republics
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Legislature
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A legislature is a deliberative assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. Legislatures form important parts of most governments, in the separation of model, they are often contrasted with the executive. Laws enacted by legislatures are known as legislation, legislatures observe and steer governing actions and usually have exclusive authority to amend the budget or budgets involved in the process. The members of a legislature are called legislators, each chamber of legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of parliamentary procedure to debate political issues and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a number of legislators present to carry out these activities. Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving first consideration to newly proposed legislation, are delegated to committees made up of small selections of the legislators. The members of a legislature usually represent different political parties, the members from each party generally meet as a caucus to organize their internal affairs, the internal organization of a legislature is also shaped by the informal norms that are shared by its members. Legislatures vary widely in the amount of power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries, militaries. In 2009, political scientists M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig constructed a Parliamentary Powers Index in an attempt to quantify the different degrees of power among national legislatures, such a system renders the legislature more powerful. Legislatures will sometime delegate their legislative power to administrative or executive agencies, legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators, who vote on proposed laws. For example, a legislature that has 100 seats has 100 members, by extension, an electoral district that elects a single legislator can also be described as a seat, as, for, example, in the phrases safe seat and marginal seat. In parliamentary systems of government, the executive is responsible to the legislature which may remove it with a vote of no confidence, names for national legislatures include parliament, congress, diet and assembly. A legislature which operates as a unit is unicameral, one divided into two chambers is bicameral, and one divided into three chambers is tricameral. In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is considered the upper house. In federations, the upper house typically represents the component states. This is a case with the legislature of the European Union. Tricameral legislatures are rare, the Massachusetts Governors Council still exists, tetracameral legislatures no longer exist, but they were previously used in Scandinavia. Legislatures vary widely in their size, among national legislatures, Chinas National Peoples Congress is the largest with 2987 members, while Vatican Citys Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7
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Christian Democratic Union of Germany
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The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Germany. It is the major party of the centre-right in German politics. The CDU forms the CDU/CSU grouping, also known as the Union, the leader of the CDU, Angela Merkel, is the current Chancellor of Germany. The CDU is a member of the Centrist Democrat International, International Democrat Union, immediately following the collapse of the Nazi dictatorship at the end of World War II, the need for a new political order in Germany was paramount. Simultaneous yet unrelated meetings began occurring throughout Germany, each with the intention of planning a Christian-democratic party, the Christlich-Demokratische Union was established in Berlin on 26 June 1945, and in Rheinland and Westfalen in September of the same year. The founding members of the CDU consisted primarily of members of the Centre Party, German Democratic Party, German National Peoples Party. In the Cold War years, after World War II up to the 1960s, a prominent anti-Nazi member was theologian Eugen Gerstenmaier who became Acting Chairman of the Foreign Board. One of the lessons learned from the failure of the Weimar Republic was that disunity among the parties ultimately allowed for the rise of the Nazi Party. It was therefore crucial to create a party of Christian Democrats – a Christian Democratic Union. The result of meetings was the establishment of an inter-confessional party influenced heavily by the political tradition of liberal conservatism. The latter was more nationalist and sought German reunification, even at the expense of concessions to the Soviet Union, the Western powers appreciated the CDUs moderation, its economic flexibility and its value as an oppositional force to the Communists, which appealed to European voters at the time. Also, Adenauer was trusted by the British, the party was split over issues of rearmament within the Western alliance and German unification as a neutral state. Adenauer staunchly defended his position and outmanoeuvred some of his opponents. He also refused to consider the SPD as a party of the coalition until he felt sure that they shared his anti-Communist position, the CDU was the dominant party for the first two decades following the establishment of West Germany in 1949. Konrad Adenauer remained the leader until 1963, at which point the former minister of economics Ludwig Erhard replaced him. As the Free Democratic Party withdrew from the coalition in 1966 due to disagreements over fiscal and economic policy. Consequently, a coalition with the SPD took over government under CDU Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger. The CDU continued its role as opposition until 1982, when the FDP’s withdrawal from the coalition with the SPD allowed the CDU to regain power, CDU Chairman Helmut Kohl became the new Chancellor of West Germany and his CDU-FDP coalition was confirmed in the 1983 federal election
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Social Democratic Party of Germany
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The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany. The party, led by Chairman Martin Schulz since 2017, has one of the two major contemporary political parties in Germany, along with the Christian Democratic Union. The SPD has governed at the level in Germany as part of a grand coalition with the CDU. The SPD participates in 14 state governments, nine of them governed by SPD Minister-Presidents, the SPD is a member of the Party of European Socialists and of the Socialist International, and became a founding member of the Progressive Alliance on 22 May 2013. Established in 1863, the SPD is the oldest extant political party represented in the German Parliament and was one of the first Marxist-influenced parties in the world. The General German Workers Association, founded in 1863, and the Social Democratic Workers Party, founded in 1869, merged in 1875, under the name Socialist Workers Party of Germany. From 1878 to 1890, any grouping or meeting that aimed at spreading socialist principles was banned under the Anti-Socialist Laws, in 1890, when the ban was lifted and it could again present electoral lists, the party adopted its current name. In the years leading up to World War I, the party remained ideologically radical in official principle, by 1912, the party claimed the most votes of any German party. Despite the agreement of the Second International to oppose the First World War, after 1918 the SPD played an important role in the political system of the Weimar Republic, although it took part in coalition governments only in few years. Adolf Hitler prohibited the party in 1933 under the Enabling Act – party officials were imprisoned, killed or went into exile, in exile, the party used the name Sopade. In the Soviet Zone of Occupation, the Soviets forced the Social Democrats to form a party with the Communists. In the Western zones, the Communist Party was later banned by West Germanys Federal Constitutional Court, since 1949, in the Federal Republic of Germany, the SPD has been one of the two major parties, with the other being the Christian Democratic Union. From 1969 to 1982 and 1998 to 2005 the Chancellors of Germany were Social Democrats whereas the other years the Chancellors were Christian Democrats, the SPD was established as a Marxist party in 1875. After World War II, under the leadership of Kurt Schumacher, the SPD re-established itself as a socialist party, representing the interests of the working class and the trade unions. With the Godesberg Program of 1959, however, the party evolved from a socialist working-class party to a modern social-democratic party working within capitalism. The current party platform of the SPD espouses the goal of social democracy, according to the party platform, freedom, justice, and social solidarity, form the basis of social democracy. The coordinated social market economy should be strengthened, and its output should be distributed fairly, the party sees that economic system as necessary in order to ensure the affluence of the entire population. The SPD also tries to protect the poor with a welfare state
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German reunification
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The end of the unification process is officially referred to as German unity, celebrated on 3 October. Following German reunification, Berlin was once designated as the capital of united Germany. The East German regime started to falter in May 1989, when the removal of Hungarys border fence with Austria opened a hole in the Iron Curtain and it caused an exodus of thousands of East Germans fleeing to West Germany and Austria via Hungary. The united Germany is the continuation of the Federal Republic. For political and diplomatic reasons, West German politicians carefully avoided the term reunification during the run-up to what Germans frequently refer to as die Wende, after 1990, the term die Wende became more common. The term generally refers to the events led up to the actual reunification, in its usual context. When referring to the events surrounding unification, however, it carries the connotation of the time. However, anti-communist activists from Eastern Germany rejected the term Wende as it was introduced by SEDs Secretary General Egon Krenz, the capital city of Berlin was divided into four occupied sectors of control, under the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Germans lived under such imposed divisions throughout the ensuing Cold War, into the 1980s, the Soviet Union experienced a period of economic and political stagnation, and they correspondingly decreased intervention in Eastern Bloc politics. In 1987, US President Ronald Reagan gave a speech at Brandenburg Gate challenging Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down this wall that had separated Berlin. The wall had stood as an icon for the political and economic division between East and West, a division that Churchill had referred to as the Iron Curtain. In early 1989, under a new era of Soviet policies of glasnost, perestroika and taken to more progressive levels by Gorbachev. Further inspired by images of brave defiance, a wave of revolutions swept throughout the Eastern Bloc that year. In May 1989, Hungary removed their border fence and thousands of East Germans escaped to the West, however, events rapidly came to a head in early 1990. First, in March, the Party of Democratic Socialism—the former Socialist Unity Party of Germany—was heavily defeated in East Germanys first free elections. A grand coalition was formed under Lothar de Maizière, leader of the East German wing of Kohls Christian Democratic Union, on a platform of speedy reunification, second, East Germanys economy and infrastructure underwent a swift and near-total collapse. While East Germany had long been reckoned as having the most robust economy in the Soviet bloc, the East German mark had been practically worthless outside East Germany for some time before the events of 1989–90 further magnified the problem. Discussions immediately began for a merger of the German economies
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Individual liberty
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Civil liberties or personal freedoms are personal guarantees and freedoms that the government cannot abridge, either by law or by judicial interpretation, without due process. Other civil liberties include the right to own property, the right to defend oneself, within the distinctions between civil liberties and other types of liberty, distinctions exist between positive liberty/positive rights and negative liberty/negative rights. Many contemporary states have a constitution, a bill of rights, or similar constitutional documents that enumerate, the existence of some claimed civil liberties is a matter of dispute, as are the extent of most civil rights. Controversial examples include property rights, reproductive rights, and civil marriage, whether the existence of victimless crimes infringes upon civil liberties is a matter of dispute. Another matter of debate is the suspension or alteration of certain civil liberties in times of war or state of emergency, including whether and to what extent this should occur. The formal concept of civil liberties is often dated back to Magna Carta, the Constitution of Peoples Republic of China, especially its Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens, claims to protect many civil liberties. Taiwan, which is separated from China, has its own Constitution, the Fundamental Rights—embodied in Part III of the constitution—guarantee liberties such that all Indians can lead their lives in peace as citizens of India. The six fundamental rights are right to equality, right to freedom, right against exploitation, right to freedom of religion, cultural and educational rights and right to constitutional remedies. These include individual rights common to most liberal democracies, incorporated in the law of the land and are enforceable in a court of law. Violations of these result in punishments as prescribed in the Indian Penal Code. These rights are neither absolute nor immune from constitutional amendments and they have been aimed at overturning the inequalities of pre-independence social practices. Specifically, they resulted in abolishment of un-touchability and prohibit discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex and they forbid human trafficking and unfree labour. They protect cultural and educational rights of ethnic and religious minorities by allowing them to preserve their languages, all people, irrespective of race, religion, caste or sex, have the right to approach the High Courts or the Supreme Court for the enforcement of their fundamental rights. It is not necessary that the party has to be the one to do so. In public interest, anyone can initiate litigation in the court on their behalf and this is known as Public interest litigation. High Court and Supreme Court judges can also act on their own on the basis of media reports, the Fundamental Rights emphasize equality by guaranteeing to all citizens the access and use of public institutions and protections, irrespective of their background. The rights to life and personal liberty apply for persons of any nationality, while others, such as the freedom of speech, the right to equality in matters of public employment cannot be conferred to overseas citizens of India. Fundamental Rights primarily protect individuals from any arbitrary State actions, for instance, the constitution abolishes untouchability and prohibits begar
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Civil and political rights
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Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure ones ability to participate in the civil and political life of the society, Civil and political rights form the original and main part of international human rights. They comprise the first portion of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the phrase civil rights is a translation of Latin ius civis. Roman citizens could be either free or servile, but they all had rights in law. After the Edict of Milan in 313, these included the freedom of religion. Roman legal doctrine was lost during the Middle Ages, but claims of rights could still be made based on religious doctrine. According to the leaders of Ketts Rebellion, all men may be made free. In the 17th century, English common law judge Sir Edward Coke revived the idea of rights based on citizenship by arguing that Englishmen had historically enjoyed such rights, the Parliament of England adopted the English Bill of Rights in 1689. The Virginia Declaration of Rights, by George Mason and James Madison, was adopted in 1776, the Virginia declaration is the direct ancestor and model for the U. S. Bill of Rights. The removal by legislation of a civil right constitutes a civil disability, in early 19th century Britain, the phrase civil rights most commonly referred to the issue of such legal discrimination against Catholics. In the House of Commons support for civil rights was divided, the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 restored their civil rights. In the 1860s, Americans adapted this usage to newly freed blacks, congress enacted civil rights acts in 1866,1871,1875,1957,1960,1964,1968, and 1991. Marshall notes that civil rights were among the first to be recognized and codified, followed later by political rights, in many countries, they are constitutional rights and are included in a bill of rights or similar document. They are also defined in human rights instruments, such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Civil and political rights need not be codified to be protected, although most democracies worldwide do have formal written guarantees of civil, Civil rights are considered to be natural rights. Thomas Jefferson wrote in his A Summary View of the Rights of British America that a free people their rights as derived from the laws of nature, the question of to whom civil and political rights apply is a subject of controversy. According to political scientist Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr. Custom also plays a role, the United States Declaration of Independence states that people have unalienable rights including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. It is considered by some that the purpose of government is the protection of life. Ideas of self-ownership and cognitive liberty affirm rights to choose the food one eats, the one takes
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European Communities
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The European Communities, sometimes referred to as the European Community, were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. When the Communities were incorporated into the European Union in 1993, the European Coal and Steel Community ceased to exist in 2002 when its founding treaty expired. The European Community was dissolved into the European Union by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, euratom remained an entity distinct from the EU, but is governed by the same institutions. In 1957, the EAEC and EEC were created by the Treaties of Rome and they were to share some of the institutions of the ECSC but have separate executive structures. The ECSCs aim was to combine the coal and steel industries of its members to create a market in those resources. It was intended that this would increase prosperity and decrease the risk of these going to war through the process of European integration. The EAEC was working on nuclear energy co-operation between the members, the EEC was to create a customs union and general economic co-operation. It later led to the creation of a European single market, the ECSCs treaty had a 50-year limit and thus expired in 2002, all its activities are now absorbed into the European Community. The EAEC had no limit and thus continues to exist. As the EAEC has a low profile, and the profile of the European Community is dwarfed by that of the EU, the Commission and Council of the EEC were to take over the responsibilities of its counterparts in the other organisations. The Maastricht Treaty built upon the Single European Act and the Solemn Declaration on European Union in the creation of the European Union, the treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 and came into force on 1 November 1993. The Union superseded and absorbed the European Communities as one of its three pillars, the first Commission President following the creation of the EU was Jacques Delors, who briefly continued his previous EEC tenure before handing over to Jacques Santer in 1994. Only the first pillar followed the principles of supranationalism, the pillar structure of the EU allowed the areas of European co-operation to be increased without leaders handing a large amount of power to supranational institutions. The pillar system segregated the EU, what were formerly the competencies of the EEC fell within the European Community pillar. Justice and Home Affairs was introduced as a new pillar while European Political Cooperation became the second pillar, the Community institutions became the institutions of the EU but the roles of the institutions between the pillars are different. The Commission, Parliament and Court of Justice are largely cut out of activities in the second and third pillars, with the Council dominating proceedings. This is reflected in the names of the institutions, the Council is formally the Council of the European Union while the Commission is formally the Commission of the European Communities. This allowed the new areas to be based on rather than majority voting
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European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
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Schengen Area
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The Schengen Area is an area comprising 26 European states that have officially abolished passport and any other type of border control at their mutual borders. The area mostly functions as a country for international travel purposes. The area is named after the Schengen Agreement, States in the Schengen Area have eliminated border controls with other Schengen members and strengthened border controls with non-Schengen countries. Twenty-two of the twenty-eight European Union member states participate in the Schengen Area, three European microstates – Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City – can be considered de facto participants. The Schengen Area has a population of over 400 million people, as a result of the migration crisis ongoing as of early 2017, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden temporarily imposed controls on some or all of their borders with other Schengen states. Following the November 2015 Paris attacks and subsequent attacks in France, France declared a state of emergency, the Schengen Agreement was signed on 14 June 1985 by five of the ten EEC member states in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg. The Schengen Area was established separately from the European Economic Community, in 1990 the Agreement was supplemented by the Schengen Convention, which proposed the abolition of internal border controls and a common visa policy. The Agreements and the rules adopted under them were separate from the EC structures. As more EU member states signed the Schengen Agreement, consensus was reached on absorbing it into the procedures of the EU, the Agreement and its related conventions were incorporated into the mainstream of European Union law by the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997, which came into effect in 1999. A consequence of the Agreement being part of European law is that any amendment and regulation is made within its processes, in which the non-EU members are not participants. The UK and Ireland have maintained a Common Travel Area since 1923, but beyond this the UK could not accept abolishing border controls, and were given a full opt-out from the area. While not signing the Schengen Treaty, Ireland has always looked more favourably on joining but has not done so to maintain the CTA, the Nordic members required Norway and Iceland to be included, which was accepted, and so a consensus could be reached. The Schengen Area consists of 26 states, including four which are not members of the European Union, two of the non-EU members, Iceland and Norway, are part of the Nordic Passport Union and are officially classified as states associated with the Schengen activities of the EU. Switzerland was subsequently allowed to participate in the manner in 2008. Liechtenstein joined the Schengen Area on 19 December 2011, de facto, the Schengen Area also includes three European micro-states – Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City – that maintain open or semi-open borders with other Schengen member countries. Two EU members – Ireland and the United Kingdom – negotiated opt-outs from Schengen, the remaining four EU member states – Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania – are obliged to eventually join the Schengen Area. However, before implementing the Schengen rules, each state must have its preparedness assessed in four areas, air borders, visas, police cooperation. This evaluation process involves a questionnaire and visits by EU experts to selected institutions, the only land borders with border controls between EU/EEA members, are those of Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, and the one at Gibraltar and those at the Channel Tunnel
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Eurozone
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The eurozone, officially called the euro area, is a monetary union of 19 of the 28 European Union member states which have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender. The monetary authority of the eurozone is the Eurosystem, the other nine members of the European Union continue to use their own national currencies, although most of them are obliged to adopt the euro in future. Other EU states are obliged to join once they meet the criteria to do so, no state has left, and there are no provisions to do so or to be expelled. Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City have formal agreements with the EU to use the euro as their official currency and issue their own coins. The ECB, which is governed by a president and a board of the heads of central banks. The principal task of the ECB is to keep inflation under control, the Eurogroup is composed of the finance ministers of eurozone states, but in emergencies, national leaders also form the Eurogroup. Since the financial crisis of 2007–08, the eurozone has established and used provisions for granting loans to member states in return for the enactment of economic reforms. The eurozone has also enacted some limited fiscal integration, for example in peer review of each others national budgets, the issue is political and in a state of flux in terms of what further provisions will be agreed for eurozone change. In 1998 eleven member states of the European Union had met the euro convergence criteria, Greece qualified in 2000 and was admitted on 1 January 2001 before physical notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002 replacing all national currencies. Between 2007 and 2015, seven new states acceded, the 2012 data above of eurozone states were published by World Bank in May 2014. Latvia and Lithuania were not in the eurozone in 2012, the euro replaced the ECU1,1 at the exchange rate markets, on 1 January 1999. During 1979-1999, the D-Mark functioned as a de facto anchor for the ECU, the first enlargement of the eurozone, to Greece, took place on 1 January 2001, one year before the euro had physically entered into circulation. The next enlargements were to states which joined the EU in 2004, and then joined the eurozone on 1 January in the noted, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia. All new EU members joining the bloc after the signing of the Maastricht treaty in 1992 are obliged to adopt the euro under the terms of their accession treaties, nine countries are EU members but do not use the euro. Before joining the eurozone, a state must spend two years in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, as of January 2017, only the National Central Bank of Denmark participates in ERM II. Denmark and the United Kingdom obtained special opt-outs in the original Maastricht Treaty, both countries are legally exempt from joining the eurozone unless their governments decide otherwise, either by parliamentary vote or referendum. The other seven countries are obliged to adopt the euro in future and they should join as soon as they fulfil the convergence criteria, which include being part of ERM II for two years. Sweden, which joined the EU in 1995 after the Maastricht Treaty was signed, is required to join the eurozone, Interest in joining the eurozone increased in Denmark, and initially in Poland, as a result of the 2008 financial crisis
39.
United Nations
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The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
40.
NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved
41.
Group of Eight
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The G8 is an inter-governmental political forum of the world′s major highly industrialized economies in countries that view themselves as democracies. The summit came to be known as the Group of Seven, or G7, Russia was added to the political forum from 1997, which the following year became known as the G8. In March 2014 Russia was suspended following the annexation of Crimea, however, the European Union is represented at the G8 since the 1980s as a nonenumerated participant, but originally could not host or chair summits. The 40th summit was the first time the European Union was able to host, collectively, in 2012 the G8 nations comprised 50.1 percent of 2012 global nominal GDP and 40.9 percent of global GDP. G7 can refer to the states in aggregate or to the annual summit meeting of the G7 heads of government. The former term, G6, is now applied to the six most populous countries within the European Union. G7 ministers also meet throughout the year, such as the G7 finance ministers, G7 foreign ministers, or G7 environment ministers. Each calendar year the responsibility of hosting the G8 is rotated through the states in the following order, France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy. The holder of the sets the agenda, hosts the summit for that year. Nevertheless, the G7/G8 retains its relevance as a group for the West. The concept of a forum for the major industrialized countries emerged prior to the 1973 oil crisis. When running the idea past President Nixon, he noted that he would be out of town and offered use of the White House, taking their name from the setting, this original group of four became known as the Library Group. In mid-1973, at the World Bank-IMF meetings, Shultz proposed the addition of Japan to the four nations. The informal gathering of senior officials from the United States, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Japan. Presidents, moreover, Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau was forced into an early election, of the members of the Group of Five, all were new to the job with the exception of Pierre Trudeau. S. President Gerald Ford could get together in a retreat and discuss election results. Until the 1985 Plaza Accord no one outside a tight official circle knew when the seven finance ministers met, the summit was announced the day before and a communiqué was issued afterwards. Following 1994s G7 summit in Naples, Russian officials held meetings with leaders of the G7 after the groups summits
42.
G-20 major economies
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The G20 is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies. It was founded in 1999 with the aim of studying, reviewing and it seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization. The EU is represented by the European Commission and by the European Central Bank, collectively, the G20 economies account for around 85% of the gross world product, 80% of world trade, and two-thirds of the world population. Since its inception, the G20s membership policies have been criticized by numerous intellectuals, the heads of the G20 nations met semi-annually at G20 summits between 2009 and 2010. Since the November 2011 Cannes summit, all G20 summits have been held annually, the G20 superseded the G33, and was foreshadowed at the Cologne Summit of the G7 in June 1999, but was only formally established at the G7 Finance Ministers meeting on 26 September 1999. The inaugural meeting took place on 15–16 December 1999 in Berlin, Canadian finance minister Paul Martin was chosen to be the first chairman and German finance minister Hans Eichel hosted the inaugural meeting. According to researchers at the Brookings Institution, the group was founded primarily at the initiative of Eichel, however, some sources identify the G20 as a joint creation of Germany and the United States. Though the G20s primary focus is global economic governance, the themes of its summits vary from year to year, for example, the theme of the 2006 G20 ministerial meeting was Building and Sustaining Prosperity. Trevor A. Manuel, the South African Minister of Finance, was the chairperson of the G20 when South Africa hosted the secretariat in 2007, Spain and the Netherlands were included in the summit by French invitation. Despite lacking any formal ability to enforce rules, the G20s prominent membership gives it a strong input on global policy, however, there remain disputes over the legitimacy of the G20, and criticisms of its organisation and the efficacy of its declarations. After the 2008 debut summit in Washington, D. C, G20 leaders met twice a year in London and Pittsburgh in 2009, Toronto and Seoul in 2010. Since 2011, when France chaired and hosted the G20, the summits have been held once a year. The summit in 2016 was held in China and the in 2017 in Baden-Baden, a number of other ministerial-level G20 meetings have been held since 2010. In March 2014, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, as host of the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane, Germany will be hosting the 2017 summit, while Argentina will be the host in 2018. To decide which member nation gets to chair the G20 leaders meeting for a given year, each group holds a maximum of four nations. This system has been in place since 2010, when South Korea, the table below lists the nations groupings, The G20 operates without a permanent secretariat or staff. The groups chair rotates annually among the members and is selected from a different regional grouping of countries, the chair is part of a revolving three-member management group of past, present and future chairs, referred to as the Troika. The incumbent chair establishes a temporary secretariat for the duration of its term, the role of the Troika is to ensure continuity in the G20s work and management across host years
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