Abayon, Shella Mae

Aviles, Merriel
Burgos, Emari Bless
Fameronag, Lara
Hilario, Tonee Rozhe

CHAPTER 21:CHANNELS FOR INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP

POLITICAL ACTIVITY
A. The ELECTORAL SYSTEM
Proportional Representation with a Difference
The Germans sought a compromise, a hybrid electoral system because they wanted electoral justice,
but not at the cost of party fractionalization. They wanted to avoid depersonalized representation, the
lack of any link between the electorate and an individual representative, And they also wanted to
prevent extreme, antidemocratic parties fro burgeoning from splinters to major political movements.
The Basic Procedure
The dHondt method: highest-average system, which tends to favor large parties. Each partys
total vote is divided by the number of seats it already has been awarded + 1. The party w/ the
highest average is awarded the seat for that round. This process continues until all the seats have
been allocated.

The Anglo-American element

Referred to as element of the single-member, single-plurality system. The unified country is
divided into 328 constituencies, each of which returns one representative. The boundary lines
are drawn on the basis of the number of qualified electors in each constituency.

The proportional representation

Each German gets to vote twice-- once for a specific candidate to represent the local district,
and once for a party, from whose list of candidates the top ones will be elected to represent the
state

Combining both elements

Effects of Hybrid Proportional Representation

In any given state, the number of candidates elected from the party list may be greater or smaller than
the number of single-member constituencies. The Germans electoral system hampers minor parties

Election Practices

Germany does not use primary elections

There are no by-elections or interim elections

Candidates are not required to live in the state they represent

Must be at least 18 y/o

Political campaigns tend to be long (2 or 3 mos)

Campaign Financing

The parties agree from time to time to limit the amount spent on campaigns.

To strengthen party finances, governmental subsidies were enacted (natl govt give grants to
parties) at first, until July 1966.

Political Parties Act of 1967 was passed as a response to this. (Parties getting as little as 0.5% of
the vote must share in the subsidies)

B.THE ROLE OF INTEREST GROUPS

The Church
There is no separation of State and the Church, but it is not a major political influence.
Economic Groups

1. German Federation of Trade Unions

-Labor group, membership of 8 million
-Most of them support the Social Democrats

2. Federation of German Industry

-most powerful organization for business interests
-nearly 90% of all industrial and commercial firms belong to it
-Channels funds to the Christian Democrats
3. German Farmers Association
-principal voice of farmers
-It has favored Christian Democrats, but its influence was greatest when the SDP/FDP coalition
Josef Ertl, champion of the farmers interests
-The techniques and methods of interest groups are varied. As a result, interest groups may well
have more influence on the policy process than do members of the legislature.
-They do not ignore the legislative but instead concentrate on the committees

CHAPTER 22: POLICY ALTERNATIVES

Traditionally, German parties emphasized ideology and doctrine.

Weltanschauung Parties
- Rigid, unrealistic doctrines and elaborate programs, were about all that served to distinguish
one organization from another.
- totalitarian
- It helped to fractionalize the party system
German Empire
-Range: Conservative party to Social Democrats

Weimar Republic (broader spectrum)

-Range: Communists (Russian model) to German National People's Party
-German National Peoples party was eventually replaced by an even more extreme Nazi party.
- National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)
-Social Democrats largest party during the Weimar republic, until overtaken by the Nazis in
1932. In theory, they were Marxist but in practice, they were much more moderate
Germany appeared set to resume its traditionally multiparty system of doctrinaire, narrowappeal Weltanschauung parties.
In the first postwar election in West Germany in 1948, Christian Democrats and Social
Democrats together received 60 percent of the vote and two-thirds of the seats in the legislature which
suggest that the party system had not returned to its earlier multiplicity.
Number of parties represented in the legislature was halved in the next election. Christian
democrats won 45 percent of the vote and half of the seats in the legislature.
Third election of the Federal Republic Christian Democrats obtained half of the popular vote,
unprecedented in German history.
In the 1980s, the two largest parties share of the vote declined somewhat.
In East Germany, although the Communists allowed a few puppet groups to exist, they
established a one party system.
In West Germany, the leading parties became more moderate, less dogmatic, and more willing
to compromise.

Leading Parties
1. Social Democratic Party (SPD) - oldest party in Germany. During the 1930s, when the party was
suppressed by the Nazis, its leaders went underground or into exile.
-In 1945, the party revived and became the major opposition party
-1966: became part of the governing coalition
-1969-1982 it was the principal governing party

2. Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) postwar product

-founded to unite all Christians, since both Catholic and Protestants had suffered under the
Nazis. Both opposed communism.
-Konrad Adenauer First leader, opposed clericalism even though he was a Catholic
-Ludwig Erhand partys nondenominational image was further enhanced
3. Free Democrats (FDP) heir to an earlier political tradition. When four separate regional parties
sharing liberal views merged to form a national political force.

Recent Politics and Policies

Germany is likely to have a three-to four-party system, with two parties predominating.
The robust democracy of Germany is in large measure due to an effective party system. The
system does not impede the effective concentration of power, but is also sufficiently vital and offers
breadth of choice that facilitates accountability.