Interest Aggregation
Interest aggregation is the activity in which the political demands of individuals and groups are combined into policy programs. To understand the means through which parties, institutions and people in Germany agree upon social and economic policies, we must first look at their government structure and political parties.
Political Parties
Germany has a competitive party system, in which the goal of policy programs is to build electoral support and mobilize voters. The Bundestag, the parliament of Germany, has a plural multi-party system. There are two major parties: the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which is affiliated with the party Christian Social Union (CSU) within the same parliamentary group (collectively known as CDU/CSU or the Union).
Germany also has three minor parties: the Free Democratic Party (FDP), The Left, and Alliance '90/The Greens. The federal government of Germany is usually comprised of a coalition between a major and minor party. The most typical coalition exists between the CDU/CSU and FDP, or the SPD and Greens, which is known as the 'red-green alliance'. There are also instances in history where the federal government consisted of a Grand Coalition--an alliance between the CDU/CSU and the SPD, the two biggest parties in Germany.
Structure of Government
Germany is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic. It's competitive party system uses policy programs primarily as a means to build electoral support and mobilize voters. Members of the Bundestag are chosen directly by German citizens, through both mixed member proportional representation (MMP) and the single-district plurality election rule. MMP is similar to proportional representation (PR), where the number of party members in the legislature are given based on the proportion of votes they get from the citizens. The only difference is that MMP uses electoral states to choose a portion of the members, that are then deducted from the party totals to maintain overall proportionality. A total of 598 or more members in the Bundestag are chosen through MMP.
MMP and PR are primarily used in systems with many political parties--when there isn't a high chance that a single group will win the majority, each party will target a specific crowd (e.g. Christians, college-students, middle-class) and develop their own electoral base. Thus, party policies will reflect the relationships between the party and specific institutions, business associations, religious/ethnic groups, and so on.
Around 298 members are chosen through the plurality voting system, which is also known as "first past the post" (FPP). This is a voting system where the winner-takes-all: the candidate who gets the most votes will acquire the position. Even with a minor difference like 50.01% and 49.99%, the candidate with 50.01% of the votes still wins.
FPP is unique in that the candidate need not obtain an absolute majority to win. Because of its single-winner nature, this method discourages the creation of multiple parties, often resulting in a two-party system. This phenomenon is summarized in Duverger's Law: small parties that gain a minor portion of votes across districts are greatly underrepresented and consequently less likely to compete in this voting system.
Since candidates under the FPP system need only a slight advantage over the opponent, their policy positions are developed based on the general preferences of the citizens. In other words, they target the "center" of the electorate in order to win the most votes. This is a direct contrast with the MMP/PR voting systems, where parties may in fact develop radical views to cater to a specific group.
Authoritarian Party Systems
The authoritarian party system is a one-party system where interest aggregation takes place chiefly within the party ranks, or between business groups, landowners and institutional groups in the bureaucracy or military. Since there are no party alternatives, citizens cannot influence the direction of interest aggregation in the country.
Germany was dominated by the Nazi one-party system in the mid 1900s, an exclusive governing party in which the party has complete control over political resources. It didn't permit interest aggregation within the party or outside the party (among social groups, citizens or other government agencies)--all policies are created based on the party's political ideology, which claims to accomodate the interests of all its citizens (though citizens never actually get to express their true interests).
Currently, Germany is far from the authoritarian party system, as it's democratic nature allows citizens to choose their representatives in government. Interest aggregation takes place through the multiple parties within Germany, and citizens can support whichever party best satisfies their interest.
Military
The armed forces in Germany were officially established in November 12th, 1955 as the Bundeswehr. This newly created military's purpose is to serve the government and its people--to protect the democratic state. There were measures taken to ensure that the executives of the military possessed political attitudes and experiences that would support the new democratic state. The key reformers of the military wished to establish a solid civil-military basis, which would allow democratic views to thrive amongst military personnel.
As the military supports and advocates similar views as the German state, it doesn't play a huge role in interest aggregation. Fully subordinate to the government, the military should and will follow the economic and social policies that the parliament sets forth (with the citizen's best interest in mind).
Political Parties
Germany has a competitive party system, in which the goal of policy programs is to build electoral support and mobilize voters. The Bundestag, the parliament of Germany, has a plural multi-party system. There are two major parties: the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which is affiliated with the party Christian Social Union (CSU) within the same parliamentary group (collectively known as CDU/CSU or the Union).
Germany also has three minor parties: the Free Democratic Party (FDP), The Left, and Alliance '90/The Greens. The federal government of Germany is usually comprised of a coalition between a major and minor party. The most typical coalition exists between the CDU/CSU and FDP, or the SPD and Greens, which is known as the 'red-green alliance'. There are also instances in history where the federal government consisted of a Grand Coalition--an alliance between the CDU/CSU and the SPD, the two biggest parties in Germany.
Structure of Government
Germany is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic. It's competitive party system uses policy programs primarily as a means to build electoral support and mobilize voters. Members of the Bundestag are chosen directly by German citizens, through both mixed member proportional representation (MMP) and the single-district plurality election rule. MMP is similar to proportional representation (PR), where the number of party members in the legislature are given based on the proportion of votes they get from the citizens. The only difference is that MMP uses electoral states to choose a portion of the members, that are then deducted from the party totals to maintain overall proportionality. A total of 598 or more members in the Bundestag are chosen through MMP.
MMP and PR are primarily used in systems with many political parties--when there isn't a high chance that a single group will win the majority, each party will target a specific crowd (e.g. Christians, college-students, middle-class) and develop their own electoral base. Thus, party policies will reflect the relationships between the party and specific institutions, business associations, religious/ethnic groups, and so on.
Around 298 members are chosen through the plurality voting system, which is also known as "first past the post" (FPP). This is a voting system where the winner-takes-all: the candidate who gets the most votes will acquire the position. Even with a minor difference like 50.01% and 49.99%, the candidate with 50.01% of the votes still wins.
FPP is unique in that the candidate need not obtain an absolute majority to win. Because of its single-winner nature, this method discourages the creation of multiple parties, often resulting in a two-party system. This phenomenon is summarized in Duverger's Law: small parties that gain a minor portion of votes across districts are greatly underrepresented and consequently less likely to compete in this voting system.
Since candidates under the FPP system need only a slight advantage over the opponent, their policy positions are developed based on the general preferences of the citizens. In other words, they target the "center" of the electorate in order to win the most votes. This is a direct contrast with the MMP/PR voting systems, where parties may in fact develop radical views to cater to a specific group.
Authoritarian Party Systems
The authoritarian party system is a one-party system where interest aggregation takes place chiefly within the party ranks, or between business groups, landowners and institutional groups in the bureaucracy or military. Since there are no party alternatives, citizens cannot influence the direction of interest aggregation in the country.
Germany was dominated by the Nazi one-party system in the mid 1900s, an exclusive governing party in which the party has complete control over political resources. It didn't permit interest aggregation within the party or outside the party (among social groups, citizens or other government agencies)--all policies are created based on the party's political ideology, which claims to accomodate the interests of all its citizens (though citizens never actually get to express their true interests).
Currently, Germany is far from the authoritarian party system, as it's democratic nature allows citizens to choose their representatives in government. Interest aggregation takes place through the multiple parties within Germany, and citizens can support whichever party best satisfies their interest.
Military
The armed forces in Germany were officially established in November 12th, 1955 as the Bundeswehr. This newly created military's purpose is to serve the government and its people--to protect the democratic state. There were measures taken to ensure that the executives of the military possessed political attitudes and experiences that would support the new democratic state. The key reformers of the military wished to establish a solid civil-military basis, which would allow democratic views to thrive amongst military personnel.
As the military supports and advocates similar views as the German state, it doesn't play a huge role in interest aggregation. Fully subordinate to the government, the military should and will follow the economic and social policies that the parliament sets forth (with the citizen's best interest in mind).