Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany has long been a member of the family of consolidated parliamentary democracies. Some of the constitutional devices that characterise the German model of parliamentary government, such as the ‘constructive’ vote of no confidence, have even been copied by foreign constitution-makers. This marks a remarkable achievement for a country in which the bulk of politicians and scholars alike were historically rather slow in grasping the very idea of parliamentary government – a legacy which continues to be reflected in recent surveys revealing that no less than six per cent of the members of the Bundestag and 18 per cent of the German voters are convinced that they live under a presidential, rather than a parliamentary, system of government. ¹ While this finding may amuse observers – especially the British, who seem least in need of any special briefing on the working logic of parliamentary government – this confusion seems to be contagious. In fact, the highly credited British veteran political columnist Peter Riddell recently described the Federal Republic as a presidential system too. ²