Germany
is a
Federal Republic consisting of sixteen
states, known in
German as (singular ). Since
is also the German word for "country", the term (federal states;
singular ) is commonly used colloquially, as it is more specific,
though technically incorrect within the corpus of
German law.
The citizens of the states form the
nation of
Germany, and have the
right of abode
within the states. The area covered by the 16 states is completely
and solely the territory of Germany. The governments of the states
form part of the government of Germany.
The cities
of Berlin
and Hamburg
are states
in their own right, while the State of Bremen
consists of two cities, Bremen
and Bremerhaven
. These three are termed (
city-states). The remaining 13 states are termed
(area states).
States
After the end of the
Second World
War, the states in the western part of the former
German Reich were constituted as administrative
areas first and subsequently in 1949, federated into the
Bund or Federal Republic of Germany.
This is in contrast to
post-war development in Austria
, where the
Bund was constituted first, and then the individual states
were created as units of a federal system. In Austria, the
states are also referred to as
Länder in the Austrian
constitution.
The use of the term
Länder (countries) comes from the
Weimar constitution of 1919,
before they were called
Staaten (states). The addition of
Bundes- (federal) is very common but not the correct term
in the constitution of 1919 or the Basic Law of 1949. Three
Länder actually call themselves
Freistaat (free
state, republic), Bavaria (since 1919), Saxony (since 1990) and
Thuringia (1994).
Many of the current states have the same names with territory
substantially the same as their namesakes, the former sovereign
countries (for example Bavaria and Saxony which have along with
Bremen nearly the same territory as in 1871).
Overview
|- style="background-color:#bbbbbb;"
! class="unsortable" | Coat of arms
! State
! Joined
the federation
! Head of government
! Government
coalition
! Votes in
Bundesrat
! Area (km²)
! Inhabitants
(Thousands)
! Inhabitants
per km²
! Capital
! German
abbreviation
(ISO 3166-2:DE)
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
| .svg/50px-Coat_of_arms_of_Baden-W%C3%BCrttemberg_(lesser).svg)
| Baden-Württemberg
| 1949
| Günther Oettinger (CDU)
| align="center"| CDU/FDP
| align="center"| 6
| align="right"| 35,752
| align="right"| 10,739
| align="right"| 300
| Stuttgart
| align="center"| BW
|- style="background-color:#dddddd;"
| 
| Bavaria
(German: Bayern)
| 1949
| Horst Seehofer (CSU)
| align="center"| CSU/FDP
| align="center"| 6
| align="right"| 70,552
| style="text-align:right" | 12,488
| style="text-align:right" | 177
| Munich
| align="center"| BY
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
| 
| Berlin
| 1990
| Klaus Wowereit (SPD)
| align="center"| SPD/The Left
| align="center"| 4
| align="right"| 892
| style="text-align:right" | 3,395
| style="text-align:right" | 3,807
| –
| align="center"| BE
|- style="background-color:#dddddd;"
| 
| Brandenburg
| 1990
| Matthias Platzeck (SPD)
| align="center"| SPD/The Left
| align="center"| 4
| align="right"| 29,479
| style="text-align:right" | 2,559
| style="text-align:right" | 87
| Potsdam
| align="center"| BB
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
| .svg/50px-Bremen_Wappen(Mittel).svg)
| Bremen
| 1949
| Jens Böhrnsen (SPD)
| align="center"| SPD/The Greens
| align="center"| 3
| align="right"| 404
| style="text-align:right" | 663
| style="text-align:right" | 1,641
| –
| align="center"| HB
|- style="background-color:#dddddd;"
| 
| Hamburg
| 1949
| Ole von Beust (CDU)
| align="center"| CDU/The Greens
| align="center"| 3
| align="right"| 755
| style="text-align:right" | 1,774
| style="text-align:right" | 2,309
| –
| align="center"| HH
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
| 
| Hesse
(German: Hessen)
| 1949
| Roland Koch (CDU)
| align="center"| CDU/FDP
| align="center"| 5
| align="right"| 21,115
| style="text-align:right" | 6,075
| style="text-align:right" | 289
| Wiesbaden
| align="center"| HE
|- style="background-color:#dddddd;"
| .svg/50px-Coat_of_arms_of_Mecklenburg-Western_Pomerania_(great).svg)
| Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
(German: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
| 1990
| Erwin Sellering (SPD)
| align="center"| SPD/CDU
| align="center"| 3
| align="right"| 23,180
| style="text-align:right" | 1,707
| style="text-align:right" | 74
| Schwerin
| align="center"| MV
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
| 
| Lower Saxony
(German: Niedersachsen)
| 1949
| Christian Wulff (CDU)
| align="center"| CDU/FDP
| align="center"| 6
| align="right"| 47,624
| style="text-align:right" | 7,997
| style="text-align:right" | 168
| Hannover
| align="center"| NI
|- style="background-color:#dddddd;"
| 
| North Rhine-
Westphalia
(German: Nordrhein-Westfalen)
| 1949
| Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU)
| align="center"| CDU/FDP
| align="center"| 6
| align="right"| 34,085
| style="text-align:right" | 18,029
| style="text-align:right" | 530
| Düsseldorf
| align="center"| NRW
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
| 
| Rhineland-Palatinate
(German: Rheinland-Pfalz)
| 1949
| Kurt Beck (SPD)
| align="center"| SPD
| align="center"| 4
| align="right"| 19,853
| style="text-align:right" | 4,053
| style="text-align:right" | 204
| Mainz
| align="center"| RP
|- style="background-color:#dddddd;"
| 
| Saarland
| 1957
| Peter Müller (CDU)
| align="center"| CDU/FDP/The Greens
| align="center"| 3
| align="right"| 2,569
| style="text-align:right" | 1,050
| style="text-align:right" | 409
| Saarbrücken
| align="center"| SL
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
| 
| Saxony
(German: Sachsen)
| 1990
| Stanislaw Tillich (CDU)
| align="center"| CDU/FDP
| align="center"| 4
| align="right"| 18,416
| style="text-align:right" | 4,250
| style="text-align:right" | 232
| Dresden
| align="center"| SN
|- style="background-color:#dddddd;"
| 
| Saxony-Anhalt
(German: Sachsen-Anhalt)
| 1990
| Wolfgang Böhmer (CDU)
| align="center"| CDU/SPD
| align="center"| 4
| align="right"| 20,446
| style="text-align:right" | 2,470
| style="text-align:right" | 121
| Magdeburg
| align="center"| ST
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
| 
| Schleswig-Holstein
| 1949
| Peter Harry Carstensen (CDU)
| align="center"| CDU/FDP
| align="center"| 4
| align="right"| 15,799
| style="text-align:right" | 2,833
| style="text-align:right" | 179
| Kiel
| align="center"| SH
|- style="background-color:#dddddd;"
| 
| Thuringia
(German: Thüringen)
| 1990
| Christine Lieberknecht (CDU)
| align="center"| CDU/SPD
| align="center"| 4
| align="right"| 16,172
| style="text-align:right" | 2,335
| style="text-align:right" | 144
| Erfurt
| align="center"| TH
|}
History
The
Holy Roman Empire, a
predecessor of Germany that existed before 1806, comprised
numerous petty states. After its breakdown
during the
Napoleonic Wars, they
were restructured to larger units. In 1871, 22 smaller monarchies,
three city-states and the Imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine
unified to form the German
Empire. Following
World War I, the
remaining states
constituted Weimar
Germany, whose federative division was left in place after the
Nazis came to power,
but was surpressed by
the Nazi Gau system.
During the
Allied
occupation of Germany after World War II, the territory in each
Occupation Zone was re-organized on behalf of the Allied Council
into new states to prevent any one state from ever dominating
Germany (as Prussia had done). Initially, only 7 of the pre-War
states remained: Bavaria, Bremen, Hamburg, Baden, Saarland, Saxony,
and Thuringia. The rest were amalgamations of Prussian provinces
and smaller states. For example, the Prussian Province of Saxony
and the state of Anhalt were merged to create Saxony-Anhalt.
Upon
founding in 1949, West
Germany
had eleven states, which were reduced to nine in
1952 as three south-western states (Baden, Württemberg-Hohenzollern
and Württemberg-Baden) merged to form
Baden-Württemberg.Since 1957, when the French-occupied
Saarland was returned (the "small reunification"), the
Federal Republic consisted of ten states (today called the Old States).West Berlin was in
many ways integrated with West Germany, but due to its special
status
de jureunder the sovereignty of the
Western Allies, did not officially constitute a state or part of
one.
In
East
Germany
, originally five states (Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony)
existed, until 1952, when the GDR divided them into 14
administrative districts (Bezirke).Soviet-controlled
East Berlin, despite officially having the same status as West
Berlin, was declared capital of the GDR, as a (15th)
district.
Just prior to the
German
reunificationon 3 October 1990, 14 of the East German districts
(not including East Berlin) reconstituted themselves, mainly along
the old borders, into the five
New
States. The former district of
East
Berlinjoined West Berlin to form the new state of Berlin. Thus
the 10 "old states" plus 5 "new states" plus Berlin add up to
16.
Later, the
constitutionwas changed to
state that the citizens of the 16 states had successfully achieved
unity in freedom, and that the constitution now covers all German
people. Article 23, which had allowed "other parts of Germany" to
join, was abolished as its continued inclusion might have been
regarded as an invitation for other German-speaking states and
areas to join (e.g. Austria, South Tyrol, Liechtenstein, the Swiss
cantons, Alsace, Luxembourg, South Jutland, Upper Silesia, and
Eastern Belgium).
Unlike other federations, the German states retain the right to act
on their own behalf at an international level. They retain the
status of subjects of international law, independently from their
status as members of a federation. This unique status is enshrined
in Articles 23, 24, and 32 of the Basic Law.
The description
free
state(
Freistaat) is merely a historic synonym for
republic—a description used by most German states after the
abolishment of monarchy. Today,
Freistaatis associated
emotionally with a more independent status, especially in Bavaria.
However, it has no legal meaning.
All sixteen states are represented at the
federal level in the Bundesrat
(Federal Council), where their voting power
merely depends on the size of their population.
Structure of government
The
Basic
Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, the
federalconstitution,
stipulates that the structure of each Federal State's government
must "conform to the principles of republican, democratic, and
social government, based on the rule of law" (Article 28[1]).
Most of the states are governed by a
cabinetled by a
Ministerpräsident(Minister-President),
together with a
unicamerallegislative bodyknown as the
Landtag(State
Diet). The states are
parliamentary republicsand the
relationship between their legislative and executive branches
mirrors that of the federal system: the legislatures are popularly
elected for four or five years (depending on the state), and the
Minister-President is then chosen by a
majority voteamong the
Landtag's
members. The Minister-President appoints a cabinet to run the
state's agencies and to carry out the executive duties of the
state's government.
The
governments in Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg are
designated by the term Senate.In the three free state of Bavaria, Saxony
and Thuringia the government is referred to as the State
Government (Staatsregierung), and in the other ten
states the term Land Government (Landesregierung)
is used.
Before
January 1, 2000, Bavaria had a bicameral parliament, with a
popularly elected Landtag
, and a Senate made up of
representatives of the state's major social and economic
groups.The Senate was abolished following a
referendumin 1998.
The states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg are governed slightly
differently from the other states. In each of these cities, the
executive branch consists of a Senate of approximately eight
selected by the state's parliament; the senators carry out duties
equivalent to those of the ministers in the larger states. The
equivalent of the Minister-President is the
Senatspräsident(President of the Senate) in Bremen, the
Erster Bürgermeister(First Mayor) in Hamburg, and the
Regierender Bürgermeister(Governing Mayor) in Berlin. The
parliament for Berlin is called the
Abgeordnetenhaus(House
of Representatives), while Bremen and Hamburg both have a
Bürgerschaft. The parliaments in the remaining 13 states
are referred to as
Landtag(State Parliament).
Politics
Politicsat the state level often carries
implications for federal politics.
Opposition victories in elections for
State Parliaments, which take place throughout the federal
government's four-year term, can weaken the federal government,
because state governments have assigned seats in the Bundesrat, which must also approve many laws after passage by
the Bundestag
(the federal parliament).
State elections are viewed as a barometer of support for the
policies of the federal government. If the parties of the governing
coalition lose support in successive state elections, those results
may foreshadow political difficulties for the federal government.
In the early 1990s, the opposition
SPDcommanded a two-thirds
majority in the
Bundesrat, making it particularly
difficult for the governing
CDU/
CSU-
FDPcoalition to achieve the
constitutional changes it sought; by 2003 the situation was the
reverse, with an SPD-led government being severely hindered by a
large CDU majority in the
Bundesrat. This led to
Konrad Adenauerand
Gerhard Schröderlosing the
federal
chancellorshipin 1963 and 2005 respectively because their
governments became unable to decisively act, thus losing popular
support, all because of the efforts of the various state leaders in
the Bundesrat in blocking legislation.
The powers of the state governments and legislatures in their own
territories have been much diminished in recent decades due to
ever-increasing federal legislation. A commission has been formed
to examine the possibility of instituting a clearer separation of
federal and state powers. The states, in particular, are
responsible for cultural development, law enforcement and the
educational system in its entirety (both primary and secondary
schools, and the universities as well). In Germany, the military is
a federal affair. Hence, the states have no armies.
Further subdivisions
The
city-statesof Berlin and Hamburg are
subdivided into
boroughs.
The state of Bremen
consists of two urban
districts, Bremen
and
Bremerhaven, which are not contiguous.In the other
states there are the following subdivisions:
Landschaftsverbände
Landschaftsverbände ("area
associations"): The most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia
is uniquely divided into two Landschaftsverbände, one for
the Rhineland, one for Westphalia-Lippe
.This
was meant to ease the friction caused by uniting the two culturally
quite different regions into a single state after
World War II. The
Landschaftsverbänderetain very little power today.
The
constitution of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
in §75 states the right of Mecklenburg and Vorpommern to form Landschaftsverbände,
although these two constituting parts of the Land are not
represented in the current administrative division.
Regierungsbezirke
Regierungsbezirke(governmental
districts): The large states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse,
North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony are divided into administrative
regions, or
Regierungsbezirke.In Rhineland-Palatinate, the
Regierungsbezirkewere dissolved on January 1, 2000, in
Saxony-Anhalt on January 1, 2004 and in Lower Saxony on January 1,
2005.
Kreise
Kreise (administrative districts):
Every state (except the city-states Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen) consists of rural districts
(Landkreise), and District-free Towns/Cities
(Kreisfreie Städte, in Baden-Württemberg also called
urban districts,
Stadtkreise), cities which are districts in their own
right.The state of Bremen consists of
two urban districts, while Berlin and Hamburg are states and urban
districts at the same time.
There are 313
Landkreiseand 116
Kreisfreie
Städte, making 429 districts altogether.
Each consists of an
elected council and an executive, who is chosen by either the
council or the people, depending on the state, and whose duties are
comparable to those of a county executive in the United
States
, supervising local government
administration.The
Landkreisehave primary
administrative functions in specific areas, such as highways,
hospitals, and public utilities.
Ämter
Ämter("offices" or
"bureaus"): In some states there is an administrative unit between
districts and municipalities. These units are called
Ämter(singular
Amt),
Amtsgemeinden,
Gemeindeverwaltungsverbände,
Landgemeinden,
Verbandsgemeinden,
Verwaltungsgemeinschaftenor
Kirchspiellandgemeinden.
Gemeinden
Gemeinden("municipalities"): Every
rural district and every Amt is subdivided into municipalities,
while every urban district is a municipality in its own right.
There are ( ) 12,141 municipalities, which are the smallest
administrative units in Germany. Cities and towns are
municipalities as well, which have city rights or town rights
(
Stadtrechte). Nowadays, this is
mostly just the right to be called a city or town. However, in
older times it included many privileges, such as the right to
impose its own taxes or to allow industry only within city
limits.
Gemeindenare ruled by elected councils and an executive,
the mayor, who is chosen by either the council or the people,
depending on the
Bundesland. The "constitution" for the
Gemeindenis created by the states and is uniform
throughout a
Bundesland(except for Bremen, which allows
Bremerhaven to have its own constitution).
Gemeindenhave two major policy responsibilities. First,
they administer programs authorized by the federal or state
government. Such programs typically might relate to youth, schools,
public health, and social assistance. Second, Article 28(2) of the
Basic Law guarantees
Gemeinden"the right to regulate on
their own responsibility all the affairs of the local community
within the limits set by law." Under this broad statement of
competence, local governments can justify a wide range of
activities. For instance, many municipalities develop and expand
the economic infrastructure of their communities through the
development of industrial parks.
Local authorities foster cultural activities by supporting local
artists, building arts' centres, and by having fairs. Local
government also provides public utilities, such as gas and
electricity, as well as public transportation. The majority of the
funding for municipalities is provided by higher levels of
government rather than from taxes raised and collected directly by
themselves.
In five of the German states, there are
unincorporated areas, in many cases
unpopulated forest and mountain areas, but also four Bavarian lakes
that are not part of any municipality. As of January 1, 2005, there
were 246 such areas, with a total area of 4167.66 km² or 1.2
percent of the total area of Germany. Only four unincorporated
areas are populated, with an aggregate population of about 2000.
The following table gives an overview.
Unincorporated areas in German states
The table shows that in 2000 the number of unincorporated areas was
still 295, with a total area of 4890.33 km². Unincorporated
areas are continually being incorporated into neighboring
municipalities, wholly or partially, most frequently in
Bavaria.
See also
References
- In 1949 the states of Baden, Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern
joined the federation. These states were united in 1952 as the
current state of Baden-Württemberg.
- Berlin has only officially been a full Bundesland since
reunification, even though West Berlin
was largely treated as a state of West Germany.
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