Politics of Germany

Political System of the Federal Republic of Germany

Politisches System der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (German)
Polity typeFederal democratic parliamentary republic
ConstitutionBasic Law for Germany
Legislative branch
NameBundestag and Bundesrat
TypeBicameral
Meeting placeReichstag building
Presiding officerBärbel Bas, President of the Bundestag
Executive branch
Head of State
TitleFederal President
CurrentlyFrank-Walter Steinmeier
AppointerBundesversammlung
Head of Government
TitleFederal Chancellor
CurrentlyOlaf Scholz
AppointerPresident
Cabinet
NameCabinet of Germany
Current cabinetScholz cabinet
LeaderChancellor
Deputy leaderVice Chancellor
AppointerPresident
HeadquartersChancellery
Ministries15
Judicial branch
NameJudiciary of Germany
Federal Constitutional Court
Chief judgeStephan Harbarth
SeatSeat of the Court, Karlsruhe

Germany is a democratic and federal parliamentary republic, where federal legislative power is vested in the Bundestag (the parliament of Germany) and the Bundesrat (the representative body of the Länder, Germany's regional states).

The federal system has, since 1949, been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature, while it is common for leading members of the executive to be members of the legislature as well. The political system is laid out in the 1949 constitution, the Grundgesetz (Basic Law), which remained in effect with minor amendments after German reunification in 1990.

The constitution emphasizes the protection of individual liberty in an extensive catalogue of human and civil rights and divides powers both between the federal and state levels and between the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

West Germany was a founding member of the European Community in 1958, which became the EU in 1993. Germany is part of the Schengen Area, and has been a member of the eurozone since 1999. It is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the G20 and the OECD.

The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Germany a "full democracy" in 2022.[1] According to the V-Dem Democracy indices Germany was 2023 the 15th most electoral democratic country in the world.[2]

  1. ^ "Democracy Index 2022: Frontline democracy and the battle for Ukraine" (PDF). Economist Intelligence Unit. 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  2. ^ V-Dem Institute (2023). "The V-Dem Dataset". Retrieved 14 October 2023.