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Monday, 27th June – Sunday, 4th July 2009

Malaysian parliamentarians visit Berlin and Munich

Study tour on:

“Party coalitions in Germany: From Coalition building to Coalition Management”

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• Introduction to Germany

• German political system

• From Coalition Building to Coalition Management

• Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom

Content

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Introduction to Germany

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Germany

• Population: 82 million

• Capital: Berlin

• National language: German

• President: Horst Koehler

• Chancellor: Angela Merkel

• Federal Republic: 16 States

• Currency Exchange Rate:

• 1 Euro = Ringgits (11th June 2009)

Source: INTER-NATIONES: “Übersichten: Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland und Ihre Laender”

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Size and Distances

Size of Germany: 357,021 km²

(Malaysia 454,000 km²)

950 km

1100 km

740 km

1.120 km

Note: 454, 000 km² as the total of East and West Malaysia

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Urban Settlements

Other large cities:Hamburg 1.773.218 Munich 1.315.476 Cologne 996.690 Frankfurt 659.021 Stuttgart 597.176Dortmund 585.670Düsseldorf 582.222Essen 580751 Bremen 548.477 Hanover 518.088 Duisburg 496.655

As of July 08 / January 09

Largest city:

Berlin 3.426.354

FNF

Areas you will visit

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Natural Resources & Industrial Location

• Black Coal

• Brown Coal

• Rock Salt (for industrial use)

• Large industrial area

• Oil

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Economy

• Germany has the world's most technologically advanced economy after the US and Japan

• GDP of 2.49 trillion Euro (2009) makes Germany 4th largest economically powerful country after US, Japan and China

• Highly export orientated economy (still worldwide leading country in Export-GDP-relation, China is catching up)

• Strong regulation of the labour market and a costly social system reduce the overall competitiveness of Germany’s economy.

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Economy

• The integration and upgrading of the eastern German economy remains a costly long-term problem (annual transfers from the west amount to roughly €100 billion).

• Political and economic integration of Europe brings opportunities and challenges to the German economy; i.e. with the adoption of the common European currency, Germany no longer has its own currency, and thereby less control over the economy, as the Bundesbank is no longer able to set interest rates.

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GDP by Industry 2008

Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing

Manufactory (without construction)

Construction

Trade, Tourism, Traffic

Finance, Rental andCompany Service

Public and private sector

Bill EUR

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Impact of the economic crisis on Germany

Germany is highly shattered by the economic crisis:

• After years of strong growth German economy is facing a recession of 4-6 %, the highest since the foundation of the Federal Republic in 1949

• A lot of companies are facing financial difficulties since consumers and investors are holding back their money

• The German parliament has decided on cyclical development programs to stimulate economic growth worth more than 50 billion Euros (246 billion Ringgit)

• Measures include government loans to major companies and loan securities for banking institutions, public investments as well as amenities for the people such as tax reductions

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Recent Events:

• Other car companies are also troubled, mainly because of a high decrease in exports.

• The German government has started a program, paying serious benefits to people who scrap their old car and buy a new one instead to support demand.

• So far it is a great success with many people rushing to buy but mainly low price car companies benefit while German car companies are mainly in the upper price sector.

• The German Federal Government released two stimulus packages concerning the overcoming of the financial crisis

Impact of the economic crisis on Germany

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The German Political System

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• The political system of the Federal Republic of Germany refers to a federal republic, with 16 Laender (states), which have own constitutions according to the Basic Law.

• There are complex checks and balances to safeguard against a repetition of dictatorship. Political rights, democratic institutions and the federal system receive special protection by the German constitution (the Basic Law).

• The basic law and the constitutional rights it embodies are protected by the Federal Constitutional Court. Further, these

rights are enforceable.

The Political System

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The Basic Law(the German Constitution)

Chapter 1: Basic rights (equality before the law; right to privacy, private property & education; freedoms of speech, information, expression, movement & association, etc.)Chapter 2: Structure & powers of the federation & statesChapter 3: The federal institutionsChapter 4: Federal legislation & its implementationChapter 5: Administration of justiceChapter 6: Public finance & taxation

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• Vertical & Horizontal Division of Power:– Horizontal: Executive, Legislative & Judiciary– Vertical: National, State & Communal levels

• The vertical separation of power assigns different areas of responsibility to each level; i.e. education is a responsibility of the state governments, while foreign policy is a task of the national government.

• Separate elections are held for the 3 vertical divisions of power.

Separation of Powers(German Federalism)

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Federal Structure

The people

State GovernmentsBaden-Württemburg Hesse Saxony

Bavaria Lower Saxony Saxony-Anhalt

Berlin Mecklenburg-Western-Pomerania

Brandenburg North-Rhine-Westphalia

Bremen Rhineland-Palatinate Schleswig-Holstein

Hamburg Saarland Thuringia

Federal Ministers

Local

Government

Federal President – Horst Koehler

Federal Chancellor – Angela Merkel

Federal Council (Bundesrat) Federal Cabinett

Federal ConventionFederal Assembly (Bundestag)

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Executive Branch

Head of StatePresident (Horst Koehler)

Bundeskabinett (Cabinet)

Bundesversammlung Bundestag

appoints chooses

elects5-year term

elects4-year term

Head of GovernmentChancellor (Angela Merkel)

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Legislative Branch

Bicameral Parliament

Bundestag (Federal Assembly)

“Lower House”

Popular vote(direct and proportional)

“direct representation”

Bundesrat (Federal Council)

“Upper House”

Delegates fromState Governments

“indirect representation”

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• The Bundestag is the direct representative body of the people of the Federal Republic of Germany.

• The Bundestag has decisive legislative authority and thus is the most important organ of the state.

• Some legislation requires permission from the Bundesrat (the representation of the states).

• The Members of the Bundestag are from different political parties who are elected according to the mixed member proportional representation system.

• Candidates are normally nominated by a party, but independent individuals can also stand.

The Bundestag(Federal Assembly)

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The Bundesrat(Federal Council)

• The Bundesrat represents the interests of the Länder (states) at the federal level

• Legislative & administrative functions, incl. the right to initiate legislation

• Absolute veto powers in – bills amending the constitution– bills affecting state finances or the administrative

sovereignty of states

• Formed by Representatives from and appointed by the 16 state-level governments. (No elections.) (total seats: 69)

• The composition of the Bundesrat is determined by the composition of the state-level governments, and may thus change when one of the 16 states holds an election.

• So the Bundesrat is not directly elected (representatives and Ministerpraesidenten of the Laender)

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StatePopulation (in million)

Seats in the Bundesrat

Governing parties

Baden - Württemberg 10,75 6 CDU/FDP

Bayern 12,52 6 CSU/FDP

Berlin 3,42 4 SPD/Die Linke

Brandenburg 2,53 4 SPD/CDU

Bremen 0,66 3SPD/Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen

Hamburg 1,77 3 CDU/GAL

Hessen 6,07 5 CDU/FDP

Mecklenburg - Vorpommern

1,67 3 SPD/CDU

Niedersachsen 7,97 6 CDU/FDP

Nordrhein - Westfalen 17,97 6 CDU/FDP

Rheinland - Pfalz 4,04 4 SPD

Saarland 1,03 3 CDU

Sachsen 4,21 4 CDU/SPD

Sachsen - Anhalt 2,40 4 CDU/SPD

Schleswig - Holstein 2,84 4 CDU/SPD

Thüringen 2,28 4 CDU

Governments in the “Länder” Total seats: 69

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Type of Electoral System• According to international taxonomy standards:• Mixed-member proportional system (2 votes per person - Direct and indirect

candidates) • Definition:• A system in which a proportion of the parliament (usually half) is elected

from plurality-majority electoral districts, while the remaining members are chosen from PR lists, the list seats compensate for any disproportional produced by the electoral district results. However, every seat from a electoral district can be kept, which might increase the total number of MP’s in parliament (“additional mandates”)

• Historical background:• It was devised to overcome the weaknesses of previous political systems,

which have proven unstable in German history:• The absolute majority system of the German Empire was characterised by a

lack of political participation, as power was held by a “manufactured” (unrepresentative) majority.

• The pure proportional representation system of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) weakened the state, paving the way for the abrogation of the constitution by Adolf Hitler in 1933

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Mixed-Member Proportional RepresentationThe German electoral system is generally referred to as the mixed-member

proportional representation system.

2 votes per person

Candidate of local Constituency(first-past-the post)

Party List Candidate(proportional representation)

Indirect candidate

Direct candidate

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Electoral districts

Provided for local, national and European elections

Since the last elections 2005 Germany is divided in 299 electoral districts areas, which are further divided in Wahlbezirke

Vote for indirect candidateParty List Candidate(proportional representation)

Vote for direct candidateCandidate of local Constituency

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Election bullet

First vote Second vote

Candidate of local Constituency

Party in theBundestag

CandidateParty B

CandidateParty A

CandidateParty C

Party A

Party B

Party C

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From Coalition Building to Coalition Management

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What is a Coalition?

A government coalition is usually formed after an election and by as many parties as are needed for at least a simple majority.

There are many different typologies, e.g. based on the ideological composition or on the number of parties.

Coalitions are often cricised as ineffective (bias).

Alliances are formed before an election and have a more ambigous character.

They include„untrue or silent“, coercive and opposition coalitions.

There are many different typologies, e.g. negative or constructive opposition coalitions.

≠

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Former Coalitions in Germany

1949 – 1953 CDU/CSU, FDP, DP1953 – 1956 CDU/CSU, FDP, DP1956 – 1957 CDU/CSU, FVP, DP1957 – 1961 CDU/CSU, DP1961 – 1965 CDU/CSU, FDP1965 – 1966 CDU/CSU, FDP1966 – 1969 CDU/CSU, SPD “Grand coalition”1969 – 1972 SPD, FDP

1972 – 1976 SPD, FDP1976 – 1980 SPD, FDP1980 – 1982 SPD, FDP1982 – 1983 CDU/CSU, FDP1983 – 1987 CDU/CSU, FDP1987 – 1990 CDU/CSU, FDP1990 – 1994 CDU/CSU, FDP1994 – 1998 CDU/CSU, FDP1998 – 2002 SPD, Grüne2002 – 2005 SPD, Grüne2005 - 2009 CDU/CSU, SPD “Grand coalition”

In total, the FDP joined 12 of 19 coalitions since 1949

Of 50 possible years being in a coalition, the FDP missed 19 years

But:

Since 1998 FDP not participated in a coalition/government

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Former coalitions in detail

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Right

The main parties on a right-left ideological spectrum

LeftLeft Party The

GreensSocialDemocrats

TheLiberals

ChristianDemocratsCDU

ChristianUnionCSU

Coalition A

Coalition B

Ideological differences of Coalition A > Ideological differences of Coalition B

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2005 Federal Elections to The Bundestag as an example to build coalitions

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CDU/CSU

Angela Dorothea Merkel  (born, 17/07/1954, in Hamburg, Germany), is the Chancellor of Germany. Merkel, elected to the German Parliament from Mecklenburg – Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the CDU since 09/04/2000, and Chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary party group from 2002 to 2005

• The CDU and CSU have formed a single parliamentary group since 1949, which targets conservative voters from both the Catholic and Protestant community.

• The CSU is only represented in Bavaria, while the CDU is represented in all the states except Bavaria.

• The CDU currently has 536,668 members (As of: 31/12/2007)

• 25.4 % of members are female and 74.6 % male. The female proportion is higher in the new East Germany states with 29.2 % compared to the former states in West Germany with 24.8 %.

• Before 1966 membership totals in CDU organization were only estimated. The numbers after 1966 are based on the total from 31. December of the previous year.

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SPD

Franz Müntefering (born 16/01/40) had been chairman of the SPD from 2004 to 2007 and Vice-chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2007 before he receded from politics due to personal reasons. In September 2008 he returned and became chairman of the SPD again.

• The Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands — SPD) is Germany's oldest political party and its largest in terms of membership. After World War II, under the leadership of Kurt Schuhmacher, the SPD reestablished itself as an ideological party, representing the interests of the working class and the trade unions. The party's program, which espoused Marxist principles, called for the nationalisation of major industries and state planning.

• Today the SPD advocates the modernisation of the economy to meet the demands of globalisation, but it also stresses the need to address the social needs of workers and society's disadvantaged.

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FDP

Guido Westerwelle (born 27/12/1961 is the leader of the libertarian party FDP. As such he is also the current libertarian parliamentary leader within the German Parliament.

• Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei, FDP) is a right wing political party. The party's ideology combines beliefs in individual liberty, in a state or government "that is as small as possible and as large as necessary" (so viel Staat wie nötig, so wenig Staat wie möglich!). It promotes a market economy, with traditional features of the German social welfare system. The FDP is currently the third-largest party in the Bundestag. In foreign policy the FDP supports European integration and transatlantic partnership.

• The party has generally distinguished itself from the CDU and the SPD by advocating more market-oriented policies.

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Sample Election Manifesto: “18 good reasons to vote FDP”

1) Lower taxes – more jobs

2) Modernisation of labour market

3) Negative income tax

4) Solid & affordable health system

5) Viable pension system

6) Lean state = strong state

7) SME – prime creator of jobs

8) Investment incentives for the East

9) Support for families

10) Child care

11) Improve education for all

12) Reduce compulsory schooling to 12 years

13) Abolish Central Board for university admission

14) Educational vouchers not fees

15) Efficient & affordable transport

16) Abolish compulsory military service

17) More democracy – participation

18) Our candidate for chancellor

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The Left

Oskar Lafontaine; born 16/09/1943) is a left-wing German politican, former Primeminister of Saarland and current chairman of the Left PartyLafontaine is among the most prominent critics of neoliberal politics in Germany. His views and remarks have made him a polarizing figure; most Germans are either fond of his politics or disdain them.

• The Left (Die Linke) is a German political party that came into being on 16 June 2007 as a merger of The Left Party/PDS and the former SED, the governing party of former East Germany, and Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative(WASG). Its leaders are Lothar Bisky and Oskar Lafontaine. The party sees itself as 'left' of the other parties represented in the Bundestag

• As of June 2007, the party has 71,800 members (60,300 came from The Left Party/PDS and 11,500 from the WASG, making it the fourth largest political party in Germany. The electoral strongholds of the party are located in the states which were previously part of communist East Germany, where also the large majority of its members come from.

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Alliance '90/The Greens

• Claudia Benedikta Roth (born 15/05/1955) is a German Green Party politican and one of the two current party chairs, together with Reinhard Buetikofer.

• The Alliance '90/The Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), the German green party, is a political party in Germany whose regional predecessors were founded in the late 1970s as part of the new social movement. The party was formally inaugurated on the weekend of January 17-18, 1980, by 1,000 delegates to its first convention in Karlsruhe, West Germany, as "Die Grünen". It is one of the oldest, although not the oldest, and so far the most politically successful of the world's many green parties. In 1989 and 1990 numerous civil rights groups in East Germany combined to form Bündnis 90, which merged with "Die Grünen" in 1993. Bündnis 90/Die Grünen were part of the national coalition government between 1998 and October 2005.

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Number of persons entitled to vote: 47.287.988

Political Party Valid

second votes

Percent Number of members of parliament

SPD

CDU

FDP

The Left Party

Alliance 90/

The Greens

CSU

Others

16.194.665

13.136.740

4.648.144

4.118.194

3.838.326

3.494.309

1.857.610

34.2

27.8

9.8

8.7

8.1

7.4

4.0

222

180

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51

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-

Total 49,308,512 614

Results 2005

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The current distribution of seats in the German Bundestag (lower house of parliament).

42Current distribution of seats in the German Bundesrat

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Majority of first Vote in the

electoral districts

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Models of coalition formation

Agreement form

Advantage Disadvantage

Loose agreement

Highly flexible Not very binding

Minimum consensus(India)

Binding on essentials

Flexible on other issues

Common electionmanifesto (Germany)

Binding, improves stability

Not very flexible

From case to case(Indonesia)

Highly flexible High costs due to constant recreation

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SolutionsIn the past

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Coalition building after the Elections Options coalitions

Both, CDU/CSU candidate Angela Merkel and SPD candidate Gerhard Schroeder wanted to form the government after the elections

Following coalitions where discussed:

• SPD/Gruene/Linkspartei• SPD/Gruene minority government, elected with Linkspartei •CDU CSU/ FDP minority government •SPD/Gruene/FDP •CDU CSU/Gruene/FDP

► Result: “Grand coalition“

under the leadership of

Angela Merkel

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Political parties & their leaders

In Government:• Christian Democratic Union (CDU)

[Angela Merkel]• Christian Social Union (CSU) [Horst Seehofer]

In Opposition:Free Democratic Party (FDP)[Guido Westerwelle]

• Social Democratic Party (SPD) [Franz Müntefering]

• Alliance '90/Greens[Claudia Roth, Reinhard Buetikofer]

• The Left Party (PDS)

[ Oskar Lafontaine, Lothar Bisky ]

*Note: This page only lists parties represented in the Bundestag

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Actual coalitions in the LaenderBavaria CSU/FDP

Baden-Werttemberg

CDU/FDP

Saarland CDU

RhinelandPalatinate

SPD

North RhineWestphalia

CDU/FDP

Lower Saxony

CDU/FDP

Bremen SPD/Gruene

Hamburg CDU/Gruene

Schleswig-Holstein

CDU/SPD

MecklenburgVorpommern

SPD/CDU

Brandenburg SPD/CDU

Berlin SPD/Linke

Saxony CDU/SPD

Saxony-Anhalt

CDU/SPD

Hesse CDU/FDP

Thuringia CDU

FDP is a governing party/coalition partner in 5 Laender

(in total 16 Laender)

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Coalition management tools

In the German practice of coalition management and conflict resolution four tools are usually employed:

1. Regular routine coalition talks 2. Regular routine co-ordination meetings of the parliamentary fractions 3. Meetings of the chairmen of the coalition member parties (elephant rounds) 4. Working groups of the coalition partners

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Coalition arenas on the state level (simplified)

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Informal decision-making centres

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Coalition/alliances challenges

• Rule No. 1: Discipline• Rule No. 2: Discipline• Rule No. 3: Discipline

• Rule No. 4: Test, retest, retest (research, opinion polls, and focus groups etc.)

• Rule No. 5: “Go where the people, the voters are”

Challenge No 1: How to make a coalition work?

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Requirement: message discipline

Organise your

thoughts

Who says what?

us them

us us about us

us about them

them them about us

them about them

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If parties A and B want to catch the median voters, they should move towards the center. The red and blue areas represent the voters that A and B expect

they have already captured.

Challenge No 2: How to capture the median voter?

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Challenge No. 3:How to deal with factors affecting the party behaviour?

1. Executive-legislature relationship: parliamentary/presidential democracy

2. Electoral system: majoritarian vs. proportional (number of parties = their ideological range and mutual compatibility), party-centred vs. candidate-centred (internal cohesion of parties)

3. Social cleavages: cross-cutting vs. non-cross-cutting (issue-based orcutting across issues), extreme vs. moderate

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“In a coalition government the knives remain out among the partners and they are being perpetually sharpened.

In a coalition alliance that is very different. Here the partners have to wait for open criticism after they have unseated the current government.

Coalitions in a democratic set-up can therefore only be the second-best-choice because they cannot ensure 100 % concerted action.”

However, in political practice of almost all democracies, especially of the parliamentary types, Westminster as well as list-proportional systems, coalition governments have become the rule and not the exception of political decision-making and democratic governance.

Challenge No. 4:How to deal with the negative perception of coalition governments?

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• The entered coalition has to be

– explained to the political party members

as well as

– justified to the political party voters.

Challenge No. 5:How to explain and justify the entered coalition?

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Challenge No. 6:How to keep the own political identity?

During the coalition, the political parties have to avoid to:

– loose the own political profile– become swallowed by the bigger coalition partner

• Concurrently they have to:

– Distinguish them self from the coalition partner to keep their own recognisability

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Challenge No. 7:How to find exit solutions?

In specific situations, the political parties have to find solutions to exit the coalition:

- power struggles within the coalition partner/partners

- internal party conflicts- specific political themes or issues

Exit solutions could be to:

- chancel the coalition contract- increase the political pressure on the cooperating party

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Super election year 2009

Election of the Federal President Head of the state with representative competences elected by a specially convened body called the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung)

Date of election 23 May 2009Candidates: Horst KoehlerGesine Schwan, Peter Sodann Frank Rennicke Result: Re-election of Horst Koehler during the first ballot

Election of the European Parliament Directly elected institution of the European Union (together with the Council of the European Union the legislative body)736 members where elected to represent 500 million people in 27 European states

Date of election 4-7 June

Election of the German Federal ParliamentGerman parliament Date 27th September FDP has not been a government party since 1998

Weekly snap-shot of voter

polls May 2009

May June September

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Free Democratic Party

Freie Demokratische Partei

It is one of six such It is one of six such Foundations in Germany. Foundations in Germany. The other ones are:The other ones are:

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that is committed to promoting liberal policy and politics.

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Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom

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The German Political FoundationsChristian Democratic Union of GermanyChristlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands

Christian Social UnionChristlich Soziale Union

Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands

The Greens

Party of Democratic Socialism Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus

Rosa-Luxemburg-StiftungRosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

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Who was Friedrich Naumann?

• Pastor and liberal politician

• Founder of the "Citizens' School" (1917)

• from 1920 "College of Politics"("predecessor" of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation)

• "Mentor" of Theodor Heuss

Friedrich Naumann (1860-1919)

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The History

1958 Founded by Theodor HeussPurpose: Political Education for liberalism and democracy in Germany.1963 Start of international workSince then, the range of tasks has constantly grown.

1973 Scholarship programme1984 Archive of Liberalism1995 Liberal Institute

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The Fields of Work

• Political Education

• Scholarship Programme

• Archive of Liberalism

• Liberal Institute

• International Politics

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FNF International Presence

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International Politics

Project attendance abroad:• Via the international offices

reporting to regional offices (MSOE, Mediterranean countries, Africa, Latin America, South Asia, Southeast and East Asia)

• Promotion and assistance for partner organizations (parties, human rights organizations, liberal business associations etc.)

and:• International programmes, seminars

and conferences in Germany

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• 1. Freedom in a society of [property] owners

– Property rights are the basis of individual freedom.

– Property rights and property are the basis of every civil society.

– Property and property rights are the motor of economic and social development.

Main Issues 2008 - 2011

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• 2. Freedom and Responsibility in a civil society

– More freedom and responsibility through thorough privatisation and unleashing of competition in local communities.

– Strengthening of civil society through reduction of bureaucracy and deregulation.

– It is the active citizen that must be at the centre of a free civil society.

– A liberal initiative to enhance greater participation and commitment by citizens is urgently required!

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• 3. Freedom and Rule of Law

- Without rule of law there is no freedom.

- Security is a consequence of freedom.

- The politicising of all aspects of life and the growth of bureaucracy destroy the rule of law and freedom.