The Sozialistische Deutsche Studentenbund — the Socialist German Students' Union or Socialist German Students' League — was founded in 1946 in Hamburg , Germany, as the collegiate branch of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In the 1950s, tensions between the SDS and the main party surfaced, particularly over the party's support of West Germany 's rearming, until the SPD expelled all members of the SDS from the party in 1961.
80-609: After its exclusion from the parent organization Social Democratic Party of Germany, the SDS became the leading element in the Außerparlamentarische Opposition (APO; English: Extraparliamentary Opposition ). In late 1966, it became active when the SPD and Christian Democratic Union formed a grand coalition, which left Germany without a strong opposition inside parliament, since members of those two parties represented more than 90% of
160-457: A mixed-member proportional representation system which combines first-past-the-post elected seats with a proportional party list to ensure its composition mirrors the national popular vote . Germany's parliament can only be dissolved by the President of Germany , and only after the chancellor failed to maintain the confidence of the parliament in a vote called for either by him or a majority of
240-704: A central part of the German student movement . Its membership consisted mostly of young people disillusioned with the grand coalition ( Große Koalition ) of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Since the coalition controlled 95 percent of the Bundestag , the APO provided a more effective outlet for student dissent. Its most prominent member and unofficial spokesman
320-735: A conference center. The Reichstag building was also occasionally used as a venue for sittings of the Bundestag and its committees and the Federal Convention , the body which elects the German federal president. However, the Soviets harshly protested against the use of the Reichstag building by institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany and tried to disturb the sittings by flying supersonic jets close to
400-474: A constituency vote (first vote) and a party list vote (second vote). Based solely on the first votes, 299 members are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting. The second votes are used to produce a proportional number of seats for parties, first in the states, and then on the federal level. Seats are allocated using the Sainte-Laguë method . If a party wins fewer constituency seats in
480-630: A famous kabarettist in the 1980s and the 1990s. A watershed in the history of the West German APO commenced on 2 June 1967, during demonstrations against the official visit of the Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi when student Benno Ohnesorg was shot by a policeman. Ohnesorg was attending his first-ever political demonstration, and his death left his pregnant girlfriend to fend for herself. The student movement radicalised itself, became more militant and focused its attention on
560-615: A former waterworks facility. In addition, owing to the city's legal status, citizens of West Berlin were unable to vote in elections to the Bundestag, and were instead represented by 22 non-voting delegates chosen by the House of Representatives , the city's legislature. The Bundeshaus in Bonn is the former parliament building of Germany. The sessions of the German Bundestag were held there from 1949 until its move to Berlin in 1999. Today it houses
640-505: A group if those parties did not run against each other in any German state during the election. Normally, all parties that surpassed the 5%-threshold build a fraction. The CDU and CSU have always formed a single united Fraktion (called CDU/CSU oder 'Union'), which is possible, as the CSU only runs in the state of Bavaria and the CDU only runs in the other 15 states. The size of a fraction determines
720-510: A near-revolutionary situation and much disruption, street fighting and mass strikes in May 1968, culminating in a state crisis. One of the protagonists of the German and French APO, activist and later Green Party politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit was refused reentry into France on the initiative of president Charles de Gaulle . Further members of the APO were Joseph "Joschka" Fischer (German foreign minister from 1998 to 2005) and Matthias Beltz, who became
800-408: A pilot of the potential of internet petitions , a version of e-petitioner was produced for the Bundestag. This was a collaborative project involving The Scottish Parliament , International Teledemocracy Centre and the Bundestag 'Online Services Department'. The system was formally launched on 1 September 2005, and in 2008 the Bundestag moved to a new system based on its evaluation. The Bundestag
880-527: A state than its second votes would entitle it to, it receives additional seats from the relevant state list . Parties can file lists in every single state under certain conditions – for example, a fixed number of supporting signatures. Parties can receive second votes only in those states in which they have filed a state list. If a party, by winning single-member constituencies in one state, receives more seats than it would be entitled to according to its second vote share in that state (so-called overhang seats ),
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#1732847719644960-434: Is being considered. The Bundestag members are the only federal officials directly elected by the public; the Bundestag in turn elects the chancellor and, in addition, exercises oversight of the executive branch on issues of both substantive policy and routine administration. This check on executive power can be employed through binding legislation, public debates on government policy, investigations, and direct questioning of
1040-416: Is elected for four years, and new elections must be held between 46 and 48 months after the beginning of its electoral term , unless the Bundestag is dissolved prematurely. Its term ends when the next Bundestag convenes, which must occur within 30 days of the election. Prior to 1976, there could be a period where one Bundestag had been dissolved and the next Bundestag could not be convened; during this period,
1120-518: Is headed by the Director, that reports to the President of the Bundestag. The Bundestag Administrations four departments are Parliament Service, Research, Information / Documentation and Central Affairs. The Bundestag Administration employs around 3,000 employees. Following the tradition of German diets , the Bundestag is subject to the principle of discontinuation , meaning that a newly elected Bundestag
1200-473: Is legally regarded to be a body and entity completely different from the previous Bundestag. This leads to the result that any motion, application or action submitted to the previous Bundestag, e.g. a bill referred to the Bundestag by the Federal Government, is regarded as void by non-decision (German terminology: " Die Sache fällt der Diskontinuität anheim "). Thus any bill that has not been decided upon by
1280-434: Is responsible for the routine administration of the Bundestag, including its clerical and research activities. It consists of the chamber's president (usually elected from the largest Fraktion ) and vice presidents (one from each Fraktion ). Most of the legislative work in the Bundestag is the product of standing committees, which exist largely unchanged throughout one legislative period. The number of committees approximates
1360-602: Is the German federal parliament alongside the legally distinct body of the Bundesrat , which together function similar to a bicameral legislature while technically being two separate unicameral legislative entities. It is the only federal representative body directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany ( German : Grundgesetz , pronounced [ˈɡʁʊntɡəˌzɛt͡s] ) in 1949 as one of
1440-425: Is therefore the second-highest ranking administrator of Germany. The chancellor , albeit head of government , is only the third-highest ranking administrator and has to petition both the presidents he is subordinated to for certain procedures. The 20th German Bundestag is the most visited parliament in the world, as well as the largest elected legislative body in the world . The first body to be called Bundestag
1520-469: The 1949 election . If a voter cast a first vote for a successful independent candidate or a successful candidate whose party failed to qualify for proportional representation, their second vote does not count toward proportional representation. However, it does count toward whether the elected party exceeds the 5% threshold. Parties representing recognized national minorities (currently Danes , Frisians , Sorbs , and Romani people ) are exempt from both
1600-464: The Fraktion , enforce party discipline and orchestrate the party's parliamentary activities. The members of each Fraktion are distributed among working groups focused on specific policy-related topics such as social policy, economics, and foreign policy. The Fraktion meets every Tuesday afternoon in the weeks in which the Bundestag is in session to consider legislation before the Bundestag and formulate
1680-448: The Kommune I (Commune 1) had begun, spurred on by the words of Fritz Teufel , Dieter Kunzelmann and Rainer Langhans . Its members were often prosecuted, which caused a platform for further protests. The APO also found support and theoretical guidance from intellectuals and philosophers such as Ernst Bloch , Theodor W. Adorno , Herbert Marcuse and Jean-Paul Sartre . On the whole,
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#17328477196441760-531: The Kosovo War in 1999 and the Afghan War in 2002. A small number of APO activists such as Andreas Baader , Gudrun Ensslin , journalist Ulrike Meinhof resorted to arson in department stores and illegal underground work. They collaborated in the "RAF" (German: Rote Armee Fraktion; English: Red Army Faction) . This was initially called the "bewaffneten Widerstand" (English: armed opposition), and eventually became
1840-640: The Presidium . The council consists of the Bundestag leadership, together with the most senior representatives of each Fraktion , with the number of these representatives tied to the strength of the Parliamentary groups in the chamber. The council is the coordination hub, determining the daily legislative agenda and assigning committee chairpersons based on Parliamentary group representation. The council also serves as an important forum for interparty negotiations on specific legislation and procedural issues. The Presidium
1920-698: The Reichstag building in Berlin. The Bundestag also operates in multiple new government buildings in Berlin around the neo-renaissance house and has its own police force (the Bundestagspolizei ), directly subordinated to the Bundestag Presidency . Since 2021, Bärbel Bas of the SPD is the president of the Bundestag , with as many as five vice presidents, one from each faction. The presidents and vice presidents of
2000-613: The Reichstag fire . After World War II, the Bundestag did not have own facilities to call home and had to convene in the Bundeshaus in Bonn together with the Bundesrat . 1953, the plenary chambers in the Bundeshaus had to be expanded and the Bundestag assembled in a radio building in Cologne. Until 1965, the Bundestag assembled in West Berlin for nine sessions. Seven sessions have been held in
2080-623: The SPD five, the AfD and the FDP three each, The Left and the Greens two each. Members of the opposition party can chair a significant number of standing committees (e.g. the budget committee is by tradition chaired by the biggest opposition party). These committees have either a small staff or no staff at all. The members of Bundestag and the presidium are supported by the Bundestag Administration. It
2160-601: The Springer Press , namely the Bild Zeitung (the German equivalent of the British publication The Sun ), which greatly opposed the student movement to the general public. Less than a year after the death of Benno Ohnesorg, a young worker named Josef Bachmann attempted to assassinate Rudi Dutschke, one of the most prominent leaders of the student movement; Bachmann shot Dutschke three times at close range, hitting him once in
2240-652: The Technische Universität Berlin and two sessions in Berlin's Congress Hall in Tiergarten . The assemblies met severe protest from the communist side, the last session even interrupted by Soviet aircraft in supersonic low-altitude flight. 1971, the four occupying powers agree to not accept Bundestag assemblies in West Berlin anymore. The Bundestag assembled in the Old Waterworks Building in Bonn when
2320-613: The anti-nuclear movement in Germany , the peace movement activists and other new social movements in the 1970s and 1980s, whose founders had previously been very active in the APO. In 1983, the German Green Party was elected into the Bundestag, where it stood for the concept of movement and change, so that its roots and philosophy were seen in new social movements. Within only a few years, the Greens gained much political power and prestige. In
2400-556: The terrorist group known as the Baader-Meinhof Gruppe . Bank robberies, kidnappings and even murders were committed against protagonists of businesses, politics and justice by the RAF, the " Bewegung 2. Juni " (Movement of the 2nd June) and the "Revolutionären Zellen" (Revolutionary Cells) until the 1980s. German Bundestag Opposition (408) The Bundestag ( German: [ˈbʊndəstaːk] , "Federal Diet ")
2480-492: The 20th Bundestag. Any Bundestag (even after a snap election) is considered dissolved only once a newly elected Bundestag has actually gathered in order to constitute itself (Article 39 sec. 1 sentence 2 of the Basic Law), which has to happen within 30 days of its election (Article 39 sec. 2 of the Basic Law). Thus, it may happen (and has happened) that the old Bundestag gathers and makes decisions even after
Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund - Misplaced Pages Continue
2560-557: The 5% threshold and the basic mandate clause, but normally only run in state elections. The only party that has been able to benefit from this provision so far on the federal level is the South Schleswig Voters' Association , which represents the minorities of Danes and Frisians in Schleswig-Holstein and managed to win a seat in 1949 and 2021 . The latest federal election was held on Sunday, 26 September 2021, to elect
2640-514: The APO, and the SDS as its best known representative. The students involved used the same methods of protest as the anti-war movement in the United States at that time, for example sit-ins and demonstrations. The student movement reached its height in 1968 (its membership peaked at 2,500 at that time); after that the influence of the SDS declined. In 1970 it disbanded. A resurrection of the SDS in 1988 proved of no importance. Important members of
2720-423: The Bundestag considers the legislative function its most important responsibility, concentrating much of its energy on assessing and amending the government's legislative program. The committees (see below) play a prominent role in this process. Plenary sessions provide a forum for members to engage in public debate on legislative issues before them, but they tend to be well attended only when significant legislation
2800-458: The Bundestag presidency, failing to do so in 17 votes of the house. The denial to affirm a vice president from the AfD is seen as a vote of no confidence and distrust of the house in the only faction observed by Germany's domestic intelligence agency . As the President of Germany is the head of state , while the Bundestag produces, oversees, and controls the government, the president of the Bundestag
2880-572: The Confederation and the empire). Two decades later, the current parliament building was erected. The Reichstag delegates were elected by direct and equal male suffrage (and not the three-class electoral system prevailing in Prussia until 1918). The Reichstag did not participate in the appointment of the chancellor until the parliamentary reforms of October 1918 . After the Revolution of November 1918 and
2960-463: The FDP was the only opposing party in the parliament at the time; the rest were in extraparliamentary opposition. This weakened the opposition, the Bundestag strengthened the APO in Germany. The APO demanded a democratization of university politics. A motto of the student movement protesting against the old-fashioned nature of higher education institutions was "Unter den Talaren – Muff von 1000 Jahren" ("under
3040-593: The International Congress Centre Bundeshaus Bonn and in the northern areas the branch office of the Bundesrat ("Federal Council"), which represents the Länder – the federated states. The southern areas became part of German offices for the United Nations in 2008. The former Reichstag building housed a history exhibition ( Fragen an die deutsche Geschichte ) and served occasionally as
3120-534: The Reichstag building: the Jakob-Kaiser-Haus, Paul-Löbe-Haus and Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus . In 2005, a small aircraft crashed close to the German Parliament. It was then decided to ban private air traffic over Central Berlin. Together with the Bundesrat , the Bundestag is the legislative branch of the German political system . Although most legislation is initiated by the executive branch,
3200-619: The Reichstag met only rarely, usually at the Kroll Opera House to unanimously rubber-stamp the decisions of the government. It last convened on 26 April 1942. With the new constitution of 1949 , the Bundestag was established as the new West German parliament. Because West Berlin was not officially under the jurisdiction of the constitution, a legacy of the Cold War , the Bundestag met in Bonn in several different buildings, including (provisionally)
3280-539: The SDS were Helmut Schmidt , later Chancellor of Germany (he was a member while the SDS was still part of the SPD); the later Red Army Faction member Ulrike Meinhof ; and Rudi Dutschke . In 2007, the student organization of the recent German Left Party , Die Linke, adopted the name Die Linke.SDS (Sozialistisch-Demokratischer Studierendenverband) at its founding congress. A number of people who would later hold important positions in German society and politics were members of
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3360-551: The SDS: This article about a political party in Germany is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Au%C3%9Ferparlamentarische Opposition The Außerparlamentarische Opposition ( German for extra-parliamentary opposition , commonly known as the APO ), was a political protest movement in West Germany during the latter half of the 1960s and early 1970s, forming
3440-522: The SPD. The APO was formed through the opposition mounting against the " grand coalition " government in power since 1966, which united the CDU and the SPD under the Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU) and its proposed German Emergency Acts (emergency laws), which would maximise governmental control in case of a public dispute, allowing them to restrict civil rights such as privacy and freedom of movement. With 49 seats in parliament,
3520-652: The Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi visited West Germany . On June 2, 1967 in West Berlin , Iranian and German students (including the Socialist German Student Union and Confederation of Iranian Students ) protested the Shah's visit, and it resulted in one student being killed. Alternative lifestyles and more tolerance for same-sex couples , a more open treatment of sexual topics, the right to abortion and equal rights for women are also associated with
3600-403: The West German APO consisted of young people, mostly students, who could hardly gain a foothold in workforce. A few analysts of the time, such as Jutta Ditfurth , spoke out against these assumptions and embraced the workforce, including them in the political movement. In France, the case was somewhat different. Their solidarity was found between the unions and the student activists, which led to
3680-672: The actions of the US. Among other protagonists, the movement idolised Cuban guerilla fighter Che Guevara and the founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party Ho Chi Minh . "Ho-Ho-Ho-Chi-Minh" was often chanted at demonstrations towards the end of the 1960s. Soon student movement took part in discussions about society and criticised society, demanding fundamental changes in society towards a socialist revolutionary ideal. New forms of communal life were tried, as well as new forms of protests and political actions. In particular, life in
3760-555: The backdrop of this movement were criticism of the Vietnam War and the United States , students' anti-authoritarian rebellion against their parents' generation, criticism of professors' dominance of universities and continuity of the societal relations of power, especially the continuity in the civil service since the Nazi era, and the criticism of the centre-left SPD by those to the left of
3840-400: The beginning of the new electoral period must be brought up by the government again if it aims to uphold the motion, this procedure in effect delaying the passage of the bill. Furthermore, any newly elected Bundestag will have to freshly decide on the rules of procedure ( Geschäftsordnung ), which is done by a formal decision of taking over such rules from the preceding Bundestag by reference. If
3920-498: The building. Since 19 April 1999, the German parliament has again assembled in Berlin in its original Reichstag building, which was built in 1888 based on the plans of German architect Paul Wallot and underwent a significant renovation under the lead of British architect Lord Norman Foster . Parliamentary committees and subcommittees, public hearings and parliamentary group meetings take place in three auxiliary buildings, which surround
4000-419: The chancellor and their ministers, to each of which the parliament constituted mirroring committees for oversight ( Ausschüsse ). Setting the government budget is the parliament's primary privilege, for which to execute it assembles the largest and most important committee of the house. Opposed to most debates in the Bundestag focussing on a specific topic, budget bills from the committee are heavily debated in
4080-424: The chancellor or cabinet officials. For example, the Bundestag can conduct a question hour ( Fragestunde ), in which a government representative responds to a written question previously submitted by a member. Members can ask related questions during the question hour. The questions can concern anything from a major policy issue to a specific constituent's problem. Use of the question hour has increased markedly over
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#17328477196444160-835: The constitutional freedom of opinion, the press and assembly to convey its demands publicly. New political currents usually begin outside the parliament and usually creep over the Länderparlamente into the German Bundestag (federal parliament) or even into the Bundesregierung Deutschlands (the German federal government). For example, the Green Party entered into a coalition with the SPD (the social democratic party in Germany) in 1998, it remained in government until 2005. The student movement began to gain strength and momentum in
4240-421: The election of a new Bundestag that has not gathered in order to constitute itself. For example, elections to the 16th Bundestag took place on 18 September 2005, but the 15th Bundestag still convened after election day to make some decisions on German military engagement abroad, and was entitled to do so, as the newly elected 16th Bundestag did not convene for the first time until 18 October 2005. Also following
4320-616: The establishment of the Weimar Constitution , women were given the right to vote for (and serve in) the Reichstag, and the parliament could use the no-confidence vote to force the chancellor or any cabinet member to resign. In 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor and through the Reichstag Fire Decree , the Enabling Act of 1933 and the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in 1934, gained unlimited power. After this,
4400-493: The extent of its representation on committees, the time slots allotted for speaking, the number of committee chairs it can hold, and its representation in executive bodies of the Bundestag. The fractions, not the members, receive the bulk of government funding for legislative and administrative activities. The leadership of each fraction consists of a parliamentary party leader, several deputy leaders, and an executive committee. The leadership's major responsibilities are to represent
4480-498: The head. Dutschke suffered health problems from the shooting for the rest of his life, including an epileptic condition that caused his death by an accidental drowning in 1979. After 1969, the APO, in its then-current form, played no further role in West Germany, although there was further extraparliamentary opposition. New social movements in the 1970s affected political and social areas, which had already been addressed in part by
4560-437: The house. The Bundestag has several functions, among which a few are shared with the Bundesrat . It is the chief legislative body on the federal level, producing the federal government and its presiding chancellor . The individual states ( Bundesländer ) of Germany participate in the legislative process through the Bundesrat, a separate assembly sharing several privileges with the house. The Bundestag elects and oversees
4640-415: The legislative bodies of Germany. It is thus the historical successor to the earlier Reichstag . The members of the Bundestag are representatives of the German people as a whole, are not bound by any orders or instructions and are only accountable to their electorate and their conscience. The minimum legal number of members of the Bundestag ( German : Mitglieder des Bundestages ) is 598; however, due to
4720-562: The members of the 20th Bundestag. In several districts of Berlin the 2021 election was repeated due to irregularities. This changed the number of additional mandates of the Bundestag from 138 to 137, resulting in the FDP losing a seat. Parties that were only present between 1949 and 1957 The most important organisational structures within the Bundestag are 'fractions' ( Fraktionen ; sing. Fraktion ). A parliamentary fraction must consist of at least 5% of all members of parliament. Members of parliament from different parties may only join in
4800-521: The middle of the 1960s in West Germany. The student movement is often used synonymously with APO, since it was at the time the most prominent form of extraparliamentary opposition in Germany. The student movement reached its peak in 1967 and 1968, especially in towns with universities. The most cited form of student-led APO was headed by the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (the socialist German student group). According to social democratic historian Heinrich August Winkler , major factors that formed
4880-400: The national level in order to avoid negative vote weight . To qualify for seats based on the party-list vote share, a party must either win three single-member constituencies via first votes (basic mandate clause) or exceed a threshold of 5% of the second votes nationwide. If a party only wins one or two single-member constituencies and fails to get at least 5% of the second votes, it keeps
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#17328477196444960-423: The number of federal ministries, and the titles of each are roughly similar (e.g., defense, agriculture, and labor). There are, as of the current nineteenth Bundestag, 24 standing committees. The distribution of committee chairs and the membership of each committee reflect the relative strength of the various Parliamentary groups in the chamber. In the current nineteenth Bundestag, the CDU/CSU chaired ten committees,
5040-456: The old plenary chamber had to get broken down, and in the new plenary chamber for only a few years after Germany's reunification. The most distinctive assembly of the Bundestag outsite its regular chambers was on 4 October 1990, the day after German reunification . The Bundestag assembled inside the Reichstag building in Berlin for the first time after 57 years, and remote from its then-regular home in Bonn. Soon after this most memorable assembly,
5120-434: The other parties receive compensation seats. Owing to this provision, the Bundestag usually has more than 598 members. The 20th and current Bundestag, for example, has 735 seats: 598 regular seats and 137 overhang and compensation seats. Overhang seats are calculated at the state level, so many more seats are added to balance this out among the different states, adding more seats than would be needed to compensate for overhang at
5200-421: The parliament are elected by the members of the parliament from among their midst. Usually each faction's proposed candidate gets a simple affirmation for the office by a vote of the whole house, no matter whether the faction is governing or in opposition and regularly without distinction of person. The radical-right AfD is the first and only faction in the history of reunited Germany not being able to take seat in
5280-414: The party's position on it. Parties that do not hold 5% of the Bundestag-seats may be granted the status of a Gruppe ('group') in the Bundestag; this is decided case by case, as the rules of procedure do not state a fixed number of seats for this. This status entails some privileges which are in general less than those of a Fraktion . The Bundestag's executive bodies include the Council of Elders and
5360-434: The past forty years, with more than 20,000 questions being posed during the 1987–90 term. The opposition parties actively exercise their parliamentary right to scrutinize government actions. Constituent services also take place via the Petition Committee. In 2004, the Petition Committee received over 18,000 complaints from citizens and was able to negotiate a mutually satisfactory solution to more than half of them. In 2005, as
5440-471: The rights of the Bundestag were exercised by a so-called "Permanent Committee". Germany uses the mixed-member proportional representation system, a system of proportional representation combined with elements of first-past-the-post voting . The Bundestag has 598 nominal members, elected for a four-year term; these seats are distributed between the sixteen German states in proportion to the states' population eligible to vote. Every elector has two votes:
5520-443: The seats in the Bundestag . The group consisted mainly of college and university students. The SDS opposed the Vietnam War and Germany's political involvement in it, as well as the use of nuclear weapons ; and objected that many former National Socialists (or Nazis) still held influential positions in West Germany. They also wanted to advance democratic structures in all institutions, for example in schools. In May and June 1967,
5600-418: The single-member seat(s), but other parties that accomplish at least one of the two threshold conditions receive compensation seats. In the most recent example of this, during the 2002 election , the PDS won only 4.0% of the second votes nationwide, but won two constituencies in the state of Berlin . The same applies if an independent candidate wins a single-member constituency, which has not happened since
5680-421: The student movement. Environmental protection and nuclear power became the latest themes focused on by former APO activists. The APO disbanded itself in 1968, dividing into smaller communist groups known as K-Gruppen , which remained on the political landscape but had no notable influence on West German politics. The "Marsch durch die Institutionen" (march through the institutions) propagated by Rudi Dutschke
5760-458: The style of a review and general criticism on the government for the past year ( Generaldebatte ). The Bundestag also exclusively mandates about deployment, dispatch and assignments of the Bundeswehr , Germany's military. The commander-in-chief , which is the federal minister of defence , is obliged to and acting on behalf of the parliament ( Parlamentsarmee ). Since 1999, the Bundestag has met in
5840-406: The succeeding Bundestag convents with same or similar majorities like its predecessor, the parliament can decide to take over earlier initiatives of legislation in the same fashion to abbreviate the process, thus effectively breaking the principle of discontinuation by a pull. The discontinuation of the parliament is the reason why the four-year-long convent is numbered. The current convent is numbered
5920-400: The system of overhang and leveling seats the current 20th Bundestag has a total of 735 members, making it the largest Bundestag to date and the largest freely elected national parliamentary chamber in the world. The members of the Bundestag refer to their workplace as Hohes Haus, august house. The Bundestag is elected every four years by German citizens aged 18 and older. Elections use
6000-432: The time following the party's founding, there was a divide between the fundamentalists and the realists, which still exists. It was the willingness of the Greens to compromise and adapt that has led to their increased political power. In particular, since they entered into a coalition government with the SPD in 1998 and supported issues targeted by the APO which were in the eyes of many underrepresented such as participation in
6080-466: The tradition of German diets , the German Bundestag can legally convene on any location, domestic and foreign. The Reichstag plenary chamber is not determined by law as the location of the assembly, making it a facility of convenience. Bundestag's predecessor, the German Reichstag , convened in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin, after the Reichstag with its then wooden interior and walls burned down in
6160-504: The university gowns, the musty smell of a thousand years"), which also referred to Hitler , who had called his regime a rule for a thousand years. The APO criticised society's repression of the crimes of National Socialism through its parents' generation, only interested in economic recovery. Thus, it joined worldwide protests against the Vietnam War and showed solidarity with the guerrilla fighters campaigning in North Vietnam against
6240-546: Was Rudi Dutschke . As opposed to APO, there was also opposition from other parties that, although they are represented in parliament, do not participate in the formation of the government. Small parties receive too few votes in an election to reenter the parliament. For example, in the past the Free Democratic Party (FDP) has often not been represented in Länderparlamente (federal state governments), but they are not classified as APO. APO in Germany called primarily for
6320-489: Was embarked upon, resulting in the formation of the Green Party 11 years later. The idea behind this march was that political structures could be manipulated only from within, so it made more sense for larger groups to disband and for individuals and smaller groups to work more or less independently in their local areas to change the political system of their federal republic. The Green Party was formed to organize and accommodate
6400-755: Was in the German Confederation (called Deutscher Bund in German). It convened in Frankfurt am Main from 1816 to 1866. In English it is referred to as Federal Convention . With the dissolution of the German Confederation in 1866 and the founding of the German Empire ( German Reich ) in 1871, the Reichstag was established as the German parliament in Berlin, which was the capital of the then Kingdom of Prussia (the largest and most influential state in both
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