The system of government in Germany combines elements of parliamentary democracy and federalism, meaning it features both a centralised government that derives its authority from parliament and several highly autonomous regional governments. This page looks at the different institutions that make up the German political system, including the president, the parliaments, the courts, and the federal government.
State authority in Germany is divided between the legislative branch, the executive branch and the judicial branch, and is made up of five permanent constitutional bodies:
While the Bundestag and the Bundesrat together make up the legislative branch of the German government, the president, the chancellor and the federal cabinet make up the executive branch, and the country’s federal and state courts constitute the judicial branch.
These five bodies are also balanced with the state parliaments (Landtage) which reserve powers to legislate on certain issues like education and law enforcement.
Given Germany’s history of dictatorship, this separated structure has been designed to prevent political power from becoming concentrated - and therefore potentially abused - in any one body. Legislative, executive and judicial power are barred by the constitution (Basic Law) from ever falling under the control of one single authority.
The federal president (Bundespräsident) is the head of state in Germany. However, since this is a largely ceremonial role, the president does not have a great deal of decision-making power. Instead, the president acts as a kind of figurehead for German democracy and a guardian of the constitution.
According to the Basic Law, the president represents the Federal Republic of Germany in matters of international law, concludes treaties with foreign states on its behalf, and accredits diplomats. On top of this, all federal laws must receive the president’s signature before they can come into effect, and the president has the (rarely-used) power to veto laws if they believe they violate the constitution. The federal president also nominates the chancellor.
The federal president is not directly elected by the people, but instead chosen via a secret ballot at a specially-held Federal Convention, which is made up of all of the members of the Bundestag and an equal number of members from the state parliaments. Candidates are proposed by members of the Federal Convention and must be at least 40 years old.
To be elected, the candidate must receive more than half of the votes. If none of the candidates passes this threshold, a second and third ballot can be held. After the third ballot, the candidate with the most votes wins.
Once sworn in, the federal president serves a term of five years and is allowed to serve two consecutive terms. The current president of Germany is Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The Federal Republic of Germany has two chambers of parliament: the Bundestag (the “lower house”) and the Bundesrat (the “upper house”). While the Bundestag is the federal parliament of Germany, the Bundesrat represents the 16 federal states of Germany. Both work together to legislate for Germany at a federal level.
The Bundestag is the German federal parliament, and its members are directly elected every four years. MPs (Parlamentsabgeordnete) are representatives of the German people and cannot be bound by orders or instructions; instead, they are supposed to act according to the will of their electorate, and according to their conscience.
The Bundestag consists of about 600 MPs, but this number varies depending on the outcome of elections. Held every four years, elections use a mixed-member proportional representation system that gives people two votes: with their first, they choose a constituency MP, and with their second, they choose their overall preferred party.
The first 299 Bundestag seats are apportioned to those who won the 299 German constituencies outright (in a first-past-the-post system); the remaining 299 seats are allocated according to the share of the vote each party receives in the second vote.
However, there are so-called “overhang seats” (Überhangmandate) that can be added to this total of 598 MPs to redress imbalances. For instance, if a party wins 10 seats outright in the first vote, but in the second vote only receives a share enough for seven seats, they get three overhang seats to ensure they have the minimum number of directly elected MPs. For this reason, there can sometimes be more than 598 MPs in the Bundestag. The 2021 election witnessed it swell to an unprecedented 735 seats.
The Bundestag is the chief legislative body of Germany on a federal level, meaning that its members decide on new laws and change laws that already exist. Members also elect and oversee the chancellor, and decide on the budget.
The parties currently represented in the 20th German Bundestag (elected on September 26, 2021) are:
Sometimes called the “upper house” of the German parliament (or, more accurately, the “second chamber”), the Bundesrat is a body that represents Germany’s federal states in federal legislation. Its members are not directly elected by the public but instead are put forward by state governments. Their term of office is not fixed.
The Bundesrat’s 69 seats are allocated according to a state’s population (with a minimum of three seats). For example, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg, as Germany’s most populous states, all have six seats each, while Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saarland each have three seats.
The Bundesrat functions as a kind of check on the powers of the Bundestag, meaning that its members must agree to certain types of legislation tabled by the Bundestag. It can suggest amendments to laws and send them back to the Bundestag to be debated. Importantly, it also has the power to block laws that infringe on regional powers or threaten to weaken the German constitution.
The Bundesrat only participates in the legislation and administration of laws that apply at a federal level (i.e. throughout Germany). The Basic Law stipulates which kinds of laws must apply nationwide - for instance, laws governing things like immigration or citizenship. Other laws can be passed by the federal states themselves via their state parliaments. These laws then only apply locally.
While certain powers are exclusively the remit of the Bundestag - for example, foreign affairs, defence, post and telecommunications, customs, international trade and matters affecting citizenship, Germany’s federal states each have their own parliaments that are responsible for certain functions like education and law enforcement.
Most state governments in Germany follow the structure of the federal government: 13 have a head of government, a cabinet, ministers and a parliamentary body. The three city-states of Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin have a mayor who also serves as the head of the city and state governments, while the senate serves as the parliament.
Below the state parliaments, there are also administrative districts (Regierungsbezirke), counties (Kreise) and communities (Gemeinden) that retain a strong level of autonomy and are responsible for things like the administration of schools, hospitals, housing and construction, public services, cultural amenities and utilities.
The federal government of Germany (Bundesregierung) is formed from members of the Bundestag. Following each federal election, the party with the most MPs in Germany gets the mandate to form a government, either on their own if they receive more than 50 percent of the vote, or (more commonly) in a coalition with other parties that would give them a working majority in the Bundestag.
Since its creation in 1949, the German federal republic has only once been ruled by a single party with a parliamentary majority, making coalition governments very much the norm.
The federal government of Germany is made up of the federal chancellor (Bundeskanzler) and the federal ministers.
The federal chancellor (Bundeskanzler) is the head of the German government and its chief executive, and therefore the person with the most political power in Germany. The federal chancellor is elected by the Bundestag on the recommendation of the federal president, and sworn in by the president of the Bundestag. For this reason, the chancellor is typically the leader of the party that wins the largest number of Bundestag seats in the federal election.
The chancellor is considered the “captain” of the ship that is the German government, determining who will be in the government and instructing the federal president to appoint or dismiss ministers. They have the authority to direct policy, delegating to the cabinet ministers and determining the scope of their areas of responsibility.
The current chancellor of Germany is Olaf Scholz (SPD).
The second constituent part of the German federal government is the cabinet ministers. The word “Bundeskabinett” (federal cabinet) is therefore often used as a direct synonym for Bundesregierung (federal government).
Most cabinet officials are members of the Bundestag and are drawn from the majority party or proportionally from the parties in the coalition, but the chancellor may appoint someone without party affiliation where they see fit.
The principle of joint cabinet decision-making means that the chancellor and the ministers decide jointly on matters of general political importance. Where there are differences of opinion between ministers, the chancellor mediates. Generally, cabinet decisions are based on a rule of majority.
Although the chancellor has the right to issue orders to cabinet ministers, the German constitution emphasises the right of ministers to conduct their affairs autonomously within the limits set by the chancellor’s guidelines.
Since 2021, the federal cabinet has been made up of 15 ministers, but each newly-elected government can decide on the scope of each ministry and split and merge ministries as they see fit.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is tasked with strengthening the German economy. Its broad remit covers the fields of energy, industry, innovation, competition and European policy, and it also oversees agencies like the Federal Cartel Office and the Bundesnetzagentur, which is responsible for electricity and gas, telecommunications, the post and railway services.
The Federal Ministry of Finance is responsible for all aspects of tax and fiscal policy in Germany, and also determines the broad outline of budgetary policy.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior is responsible for internal security in Germany, including the protection of the constitution, civil protection against disasters and terrorism, and administrative matters. As well as determining policy for things like passports, identity cards and firearms, the ministry also oversees the German police.
The Federal Foreign Office is responsible for Germany’s international foreign policy and its relationship with the European Union.
While Germany’s federal states are primarily responsible for the administration of justice and application of penalties, the Federal Ministry of Justice is responsible for creating and changing law where it affects the constitution, and analysing the legality of laws prepared by other ministries. It oversees the German Federal Court of Justice, the Federal Administrative Court, the Federal Fiscal Court, and the German Patent and Trade Mark Office.
The Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs is tasked with shaping the economy to help create jobs, promoting social inclusion and maintaining the stability of the social security system.
The Federal Ministry of Defence is the central command and control organisation of the Minister of Defence in exercising their function as the commander in chief of the armed forces in peacetime and as head of the defence administration.
The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture is responsible for food and agricultural policy and promotes balanced, healthy diets, safe food, clear consumer information and a strong and sustainable agricultural, forestry and fisheries sector. The ministry also seeks to bolster rural regions, promote animal welfare and improve global food security.
The Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth is responsible for socio-political issues like family, senior citizens, gender equality, youth and civic engagement policy. It also heads up the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency.
The Federal Ministry of Health’s central tasks include safeguarding and advancing the efficiency of statutory health insurance and long-term care insurance, strengthening patients’ interests and ensuring the cost-effectiveness and affordability of the German healthcare system. The ministry is also responsible for health protection and disease control in Germany, as well as the legislative framework for the manufacture, testing and authorisation of medicines.
The broad remit of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport covers federal tasks which affect the mobility of people, goods, services and data. This includes not only federal transport infrastructure like the autobahn, railways and air traffic, but also the availability of internet in Germany.
The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection is responsible for a range of government policies covering things like the use of raw materials, protection from toxins and radiation, advancing climate action and ensuring the climate-friendly use of natural resources.
Although a large part of educational policy in Germany is decided at state level, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research provides funding for research projects and institutions and sets general educational policy, as well as providing student loans in Germany.
Founded in 1961, the purpose of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is to encourage economic development within Germany and in other countries through international cooperation and partnerships.
As of 2021, the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building has taken over responsibility for construction in Germany (it was previously handled by the Federal Ministry of the Interior). The new ministry’s responsibilities include construction, urban development, housing, spatial planning and regional policy. The aim of the department is to massively expand the construction of housing.
The final part of the system of government in Germany is the judicial system, headed up by the Federal Constitutional Court, which is the highest court in Germany. Broadly speaking, there are three types of courts in Germany:
Not only is there a Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) in Germany, but also a constitutional court in each of the 16 states.
The Bundesvervassungsgericht is an independent constitutional body (equal in rank to other bodies like the government and the parliaments), and the highest court at the federal level in Germany.
Generally speaking, the Federal Constitutional Court is responsible for guarding the German constitution (Basic Law) and controlling political life to ensure that no laws infringe on the constitutional rights of German citizens. It also functions as the highest body of jurisprudence, retaining the power to overturn the decisions of other courts if it deems them to be out of step with the Basic Law. Its decisions cannot be challenged by state bodies or others.
The Bundesvervassungsgericht has 16 judges, half of them elected by the Bundestag and half by the Bundesrat.
Regular courts in Germany - including local courts, regional courts and the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) - deal with most civil and criminal cases in Germany.
Finally, there are also a great number of specialised courts across Germany that deal with specific legal issues like administrative, labour, financial and social disputes.