french and german constitution essays

french and german constitution essays The executive in the French Vth Republic and the executive in the Federal republic in Germany have a few similarities and many differences. Since the French Vth constitution was tailor made by DeGaulles himself, the executive in this republic is very strong and authoritative. However, the executive in the Federal Republic of Germany, (the Bundesrepublik- Germany after 1945) was made up to prevent another Hitler from raising up, so it is very weak and is more of an executive figurehead. The position of the executive in the French Vth Republic is an extremely powerful one. In Williams Safrans The French Polity, it is indicated that the French President is very independent from other branches of government, and much of this power derives from this fact (Safran 178). In Germany however, the framers of the Basic Law avoided the problems created by the dual executive of president and chancellor during the Weimar Republic and therefore made the president obviously subordinate to the chancellor and parliament in the policymaking process (Conradt 209). This meant that the German Federal President was not independent and authoritative such as the French President was. In fact, the German President was framed by the Bundesrepublik constitution to be secondary to the Chancellor. This is very contrary to the position the French President had because the French President was not limited by any strong legislative powers that parliament might have, or by being subject to ouster by parliament. On the contrary, the French President is like the president of the Weimar Republic in possessing special emergency powers in addition to the right of dissolution, and in fact, the French President is like the U.S. president in that he or she reigns and rules (Safran 178). The French President is the head of France, in fact Safran indicates that he is the highest authority of the s...