Executive Institutions: Chancellor, Cabinet, & President
Mark
German Politics
Dr
The current German Executive institution differs from that of the Weimar
Republic in that the chancellor does not share executive power with the president of the
Republic. I found this fact rather confusing in the beginning of the section, however,
after reading the section on the president of the Republic, things strarted to come
together. Interestingly enough, it is not uncommon for a chancellor, through top aids, to
leak criticisms to the media of the ministers in his cabinate. On the other hand, the
president seems to pose as a non-partisan check, simply implimenting the will of
parliament.
Focusing now on the stronger of the two heads of the executive Republic,
the chancellor enjoys greater national control. I was surprised to find out that the
chancellor becomes commander-in-chief of the military during wartime. In addition,
throughout the chapter, I got the feeling that although the chancellor has a cabinet with
ministers, the chancellor ultimately makes the decisions-the cabinet merely approves
them. The chancellor's ministers make up a non-'working cabinet,' or simply put, is not
a policy making body.
Switching topics for a moment, one part of the reading I found particularly
interesting had to do with the military a couple years before and after unification.
Strangely enough, prior to unification in 1982, only 32% of all adult German citizens
stated that they were willing to fight for their country, compared to 70% in the U.S., and
60% in Britian. Evidently, a powerful surge of a nationwide peace movement claied
responsibility for this percentage. The military after unification was a fascinating dilema
in its own right. As a former East German communist swaps uniforms for a German
Republic uniform, what is going through his or her mind? Is there displaced loyalty-a...