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Bundesrat of Germany
The second legislative chamber, the Bundesrat, is the federal body in
which the sixteen Land governments are directly represented.
It exemplifies Germany's federalist system of government. Members of the
Bundesrat are not popularly elected but are appointed by their respective
Land governments. Members tend to be Land government
ministers. The Bundesrat has sixty-nine members. The Laender
with more than 7 million inhabitants have six seats (Baden-Wuerttemberg,
Bavaria, Lower Saxony, and North Rhine-Westphalia). The Laender
with populations of between 2 million and 7 million have four seats (Berlin,
Brandenburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate,
Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia). The least populous
Laender, with fewer than 2 million inhabitants, receive three
seats each (Bremen, Hamburg, and the Saarland). This system of representation,
although designed to reflect Land populations accurately, in
fact affords greater representation per inhabitant to the smaller
Laender. The presidency of the Bundesrat rotates annually among
the Laender. By law, each Land delegation is required
to vote as a bloc in accordance with the instructions of the Land
government.
Because the Bundesrat is so much smaller than the Bundestag, it does
not require the extensive organizational structure of the lower house.
The Bundesrat typically schedules plenary sessions once a month for the
purpose of voting on legislation prepared in committee. In comparison,
the Bundestag conducts about fifty plenary sessions a year. Bundesrat
representatives rarely attend committee sessions; instead, they delegate
that responsibility to civil servants from their ministries, as allowed
for in the Basic Law. The members tend to spend most of their time in
their Land capitals, rather than in the federal capital.
The legislative authority of the Bundesrat is subordinate to that of
the Bundestag, but the upper house nonetheless plays a vital legislative
role. The federal government must present all legislative initiatives
first to the Bundesrat; only thereafter can a proposal be passed to the
Bundestag. Further, the Bundesrat must approve all legislation affecting
policy areas for which the Basic Law grants the Laender concurrent
powers and for which the Laender must administer federal regulations.
The Bundesrat has increased its legislative responsibilities over time
by successfully arguing for a broad, rather than a narrow, interpretation
of what constitutes the range of legislation affecting Land interests.
In 1949 only 10 percent of all federal laws, namely, those directly affecting
the Laender, required Bundesrat approval. In 1993 close to 60
percent of federal legislation required the upper house's assent. The
Basic Law also provides the Bundesrat with an absolute veto of such legislation.
The political power of the absolute veto is particularly evident when
the opposition party or parties in the Bundestag have a majority in the
Bundesrat. When this is the case, the opposition can threaten the government's
legislative program. Such a division of authority can complicate the process
of governing when the major parties disagree, and, unlike the Bundestag,
the Bundesrat cannot be dissolved under any circumstances.
This bicameral system also has advantages. Some observers emphasize that
different majorities in the two chambers ensure that all legislation,
when approved, has the support of a broad political spectrum--a particularly
valuable attribute in the aftermath of unification, when consensus on
critical policy decisions is vital. The formal representation of the Laender
in the federal government through the upper chamber provides an obvious
forum for the coordination of policy between the Laender and
the federal government. The need for such coordination, particularly given
the specific, crucial needs of the eastern Laender, has become
only more important.
- The
Chancellor
- The President
- Legislature
- Bundestag
- Bundesrat
- Electoral System
- Political Parties
- Extraparty Political
Forces
- Geography (lands and
capitals, climate)
- Society (population, religion,
marriage, urbanization, social structure, immigration)
- Education (elementary,
junior, senior, vocational, higher)
- Economy (the Economic
Miracle, financial system, Bundesbank, business culture)
- Politics (government,
the Chancellor, the President, parties, Bundestag)
- Mass Media (newspapers,
radio and TV)
- Armed Forces (army,
navy, air forces, police)
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