comparison and contrast of US and German executive branches

Steve Rice
Political Science 90
Computer Project

The German system of government is often referred to as a ôChancellor
democracyö owing to the powers and responsibilities of the Federal Chancellor, head of
federal government. The Chancellor is directly elected by the bundestag, GermanyÆs
parliament, upon the proposal of a candidate from the Federal President, currently Prof.
Dr. Roman Herzog. The Chancellor is the only member of the government elected by the
parliament and he alone is accountable to it. The Chancellor chooses the federal
ministers that will compose the cabinet and proposes them to the President for
appointment or dismissal. He also determines the number of ministers and their
responsibilities. The guidelines of government policy are set by the Chancellor, placing
him in a particularly strong position in government. That the Chancellor is accountable to
parliament is evidenced by the inclusion of the ôconstructive vote of no confidenceö in
the Basic Law. A vote of no confidence in the the current Chancellor must also be a vote
of confidence for a successor. It was in this way that the current Chancellor, Dr. Helmut
Kohl, was elected in 1982.
The chancellor