Government and Politics of the U.K. and the U.S.A.

Government and Politics of the U.K. and the U.S.A.

The 20th century history of Germany is divided into four periods

according to the form of government it has had; namely the Weimar

Republic (1919-1933), the Third Reich (1933-1945), West and East

Germany (1949-1989) and the Federal Republic of Germany. It is in the

latter that the country finally has been united, with an effective

form of government, which guards the natural rights of its citizens

and simultaneously looks after the economic interest of state. The

purpose of this essay is to explain how the lower house of the German

Parliament, the Bundestag, performs its functions and how well does it

do that. As the question itself is divided into two subsections,

consequently the paper is going to follow the same scheme. In the

first part there are to be observed the tasks of representation,

law-making and control of the government. The second part of the essay

is to evaluate the efficiency with which the Bundestag achieves the

upper-mentioned.

Representation, being one of the main features of modern democracy, is

also a fundament in the German Bundestag. It is the only directly

elected by the people body in the Bundes government. In order for one

to appreciate the level of representation there should be explained

the method by which the members are elected. In fact, the electoral

system of the Bundestag is a symbiosis between proportional

representation and first-past-the-post. That means that one half of

the seats, determined in a first vote, go to a candidate for each

constituency. The other half, elected in a second vote goes to a list

of candidates from different politic...

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...and observed by those affected. In taking interests

systematically into account, it is important to hear not just one

viewpoint but also others which may reflect different and perhaps

even conflicting interests in the same field. Thus, in the case of

labour law provisions, not only the employers are heard but also

the trade unions;

* Women representation has increased throughout the years forming

one of the highest proportions of female members in any European

parliament

Committees (all- standing and ad hoc0 established on the basis of

proportional representation. The chairmanships in all committees are

also distributes to the various party caucuses on a proportioanl

basis. Even minority opposition parties having no less than 25 members

are eligible to head on or several committees