Germany’s Dual Constitution: Parliamentary Democracy in the Federal Republic

Description

This book offers a compelling and persuasive framework for understanding the German constitutional system. It argues that it can only be fully understood as a dual structure combining two layers with little in common. The first layer is the basic administrative institutional structure, comprising federal and bureaucratic institutions. The second layer is that of parliamentary democracy. It is the interplay between the two, as mediated by the Chancellery, the major political parties and the Federal Constitutional Court, which lies at the heart of the German constitutional arrangement. This innovative hybrid perspective allows for a better understanding of the current challenges of parliamentary government in Germany and its potential long-term development. An updated translation of its impactful German edition, this book provides one of the most brilliant introductions to the governmental system of a key state. Volume 7 in the series Parliamentary Democracy in Europe Acknowledgements Contents Note on the Citation of Case Law 1. Introduction: The Two Crises of Parliamentary Government I. Brexit and the Europeanisation of Westminster Parliamentarianism II. Master Narratives of the German Democracy – and Recent Doubts III. Realities of Mass and Social Media IV. Outline 2. The Two Worlds of German Constitutionalism I. What is Parliamentary Government? II. The Dual Structure of the German Constitution III. The Outsider's Republic: Parliamentary Government and the Political Culture of the Merkel Era IV. Merkel's Legacy and the Cautionary Tale of the Grand Coalition V. Parliamentarianism and Anti-Parliamentarianism 3. Transformations of Parliamentary Government in Germany Since World War I I. The Written and the Real Constitution II. 1919: Weimar – A Semi-Parliamentary Bureaucracy III. 1949: Parliamentarianism and the Basic Law IV. 1969: The Normality of Parliamentary Changes of Power and the 'Popular Parties' as Mediating Institutions V. The Legal Connection between Parliament and Government Forged by the Constitutional Court 4. What is the Bundestag? Political Representation in a Working Legislature I. What is Parliamentary Representation? II. The Constitutional Importance of the Electoral System III. The Tasks of Political Theory 5. The Crisis of the Mediating Institutions I. The Abiding Peculiarity of Parliamentary Government in the Federal Republic II. The Creeping Decline of the Popular Parties as a Constitutional Factor III. The Dilemma of the Federal Constitutional Court IV. The Chancellery Unchained 6. Potentials and Weaknesses of Parliamentary Control I. What is Parliamentary Scrutiny? II. Functions and Limits of Plenary Control III. In the Engine Room of Responsibility: The Committees IV. The Multi-Level System, Information Overkill and New Administrative Models – Aspects of Unbounded Control Tasks 7. The Future of Parliamentarianism and the German Constitution I. What Chances for Minority Governments? II. A New Chance for a Bargaining Democracy? III. A Renaissance of Parliamentarianism? IV. Constitutional Implications V. Institutional Alternatives Index