American Reacts to the Evolution of Germany's Political Spectrum

American Reacts to the Evolution of Germany's Political Spectrum

In this video I look at the evolution of the political spectrum in Germany.

Become a Channel Member for Exclusive Perks:

Or Join Patreon for Exclusive Perks:

Channel Merch:

Follow me on social media:

Twitter: @AnEclecticBeard

Instagram: The_Eclectic_Beard

If You Want to Send Mail:
Contact me directly via email or social media
Check out these supporters of the channel:

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS*

American Reacts to the Evolution of Germany's Political Spectrum, evolution of germanys political spectrum, germany politics, germany, politics, society, American Reacts, reaction, The Eclectic Beard, reaction channel, reactions,

[tvduvel]

Almost no single party gets a majority vote. Therefore you have to form coalitions with other parties to form a majority. The idea is that you have to work together and make compromises to govern your country.

[pascalnitsche]

One important correction - it’s not “longest service heads of state” but “longest serving heads of government” - unlinke the U.S.’s presidential system in Germany those two are different . The head of state is the president (currently Frank-Walter Steinmeier) while the head of government is the chancellor (currently Olaf Scholz). The president represents the country, the chancellor runs the country (oversimplified).
The president is elected every five years by the “Bundesversammlung” (consisting of the members of the Bundestag and an equal number of representatives recommended by the states) and has a term limit of 10 years, the chancellor is elected by the members of the Bundestag and has no term limits. This also means there is no disagreement between the government and the Bundestag as the Bundestag can kick out the government in a constructive vote of no confidence (basically electing a new chancellor). The chancellor and ministers don’t have to be members of the Bundestag too, though they usually are.

Also you may vote for 40+ parties, but a party only can take up their seats in the Bundestag (parliament - think House of Representatives) if it at least wins 5% of the popular vote or 3 directly elected mandates (We use a system with two votes - one for a party list and one for a candidate representing our constituency - each of those votes counts to about half of the MdBs [members of the Bundestag]).

Because you touched on the spectrum left-right … Basically what is “left” in the U.S. is more of center right here in Germany (in general). Universial health care coverage for example is a left-wing topic in the U.S. while here it is consensus of basically all democratic parties, that it is a good thing. Opionions on specific policies differ - but not on the concept as a whole.

[francescogallina]

Every democratic country have more than two parties.

[teotik]

Germany has like many countries proportional representation. A party needs 5% of the votes to get into the Bundestag. All parties with more 5% of the votes are represented. Other voices are lost. Though there is a minor exception to this rule.
The partie(s) that is/are able to gather more than 50% of the seats is in charge to elect the chancellor. One of the reasons why Germany most of the times is governed by a coalition of two or even more parties.

[JackMellor]

The thing to remember about why there’s numerous large elected parties in the parliament in Germany is due to the country having a form of proportional representation, or specifically mixed member PR, where votes are cast for both local elections and for overall party vote tallies. There is a threshold though, as any party must win at least 5% of the votes to be a full parliamentary party.

[garydalziel]

The lack of a party manifesto in the States is confusing, you have a President who might have an agenda at odds with his party, and party reps whose views sounds as though they are in the wrong party

[Zarok_]

"German Political Parties EXPLAINED" by Lucas Bender is a good video that explains the different parties more in depth

[jochendamm]

There is a hurdle to overcome: The 5 % hurdle. Parties have to get at least 5 percent of the votes to get in or direct elected people (direct mandates). Therefore you can loose your seats in paliament if you don't get enough votes. So some parties got kicked out of their seats. There are so much parties that don't get 0.1 percent of the votes and will most likely never be in power.

[zetectic]

A short but well done video.
N.B. The Democrats would be a centre-right party in Europe thus the US has a centre-right & a far-right party.
Both Dems & GOP since the 1960's has rigged the system to effectively castrate any 3rd party so that it has no national influence.
It may seem strange to you but coalitions are much more common outside the US. Newt Gingrich was the architect or the shift to the right in the Republican party & deliberately killed consensus politics.

In Germany the parties are state funded dependant on votes cast which in turn allocate the number of seat/representative parties get in regional & national government. You will find that in Europe limits/constraints on campaign finance are the norm.

[pkorobase]

What might come as a surprise for citizens of other countries, especially the US is: in Germany it is not considered a left optinion to put the interests of the public at the same priority as the freedon of the single citizen. This is sort of a common sense for a vast majority throughout most parties. Another thing: in nearly all cases the political debates when talking about controversial matters, they still agree on facts that are globally seen as true, and only the interpretation of the facts, the reasoning and maybe the consequences are talked about. This is further strengthened by a media and press system that usually does not publish untrue messages (so-called alternative facts, we consider them as lies).

[GenialHarryGrout]

Germany nearly always runs a coalition government which stops one party bringing in bad legislation which mainly benefits themselves and their supporters. Political parties have to work together, or at least the majority party and the smaller parties in the coalition, to get things done. If Florida had this system the state wouldn't be able to bring in some of the laws it has in the last few months.

[jameslewis]

When you have a voting system like proportional representation the political field really opens up. First past the post (which both the UK and USA use) is a system that heavily advatages larger parties (especially in the USA where the ability to campaign is tied to money, there are spending limits in the UK). This is why the right wing media and political parties are dead set against the UK adopting proportional representation. A lot of governments in countries that use the PR system tend to be formed as coalitions in order to gain a working majority.

[padraigpearse]

I must admit as i grow older i fimd it harder to describe the US as a true democracy. Like your only choices are a right and a centre right wing party.

[spirosgreek]

He pretty much showed the parties that are currently in the German parliament (they need atleast 5% to get in i believed)
Another really good video on German political parties has been made by the Lucas Bender channel. He goes into a bit more detail of these top german parties in a more humorous way. I highly suggest. There is also a video on greek political parties (we have elections in a few days) by the "Living Ironically in Europe" channel

[nobodx]

something that wasn't mentioned in the video:
your party have to get at least 5% of the votes to be represented in the bundestag (on federal level)
Also each citizen have 2 votes, one for a party, and one for a specific person - and both mustn't overlap

usually you already know the votes results on the same evening - and the parties start probing for coalition partners the same day.
commonly the party with the most votes tries to find partners to get the majority of the votes, but it is possible (although it never happened) that a government can be created without the majority of the votes - however it does make the government extremely difficult though

[stevehartley]

The 2 party system of the UD shackles its members individual beliefs and ability to stand financially. This also holds sway over individual policies by financial support from corporations who have commercial policy interests in keeping commercial advantages.
When you have both houses being shackled by big business it's hardly surprising few laws are changed in support of the average US working citizen.

[HaurakiVet]

New Zealand's parliament is structured in a similar way to that of Germany. Multiple parties forming coalitions to form a majority government. Our current form of government, Mixed Member Proportional, came into being through a national referendum as there was general dissatisfaction with the old "first past the post" type currently used in the US ss we had had several elections where the winning party had fewer votes than the loser.
After a couple of elections it went back to the people for a final referendum and it was fully accepted. The only naysayers were largely from a party which had done well under the old system but the majority preferred the new MMP system.
It is all explained in a very good series on you tube which compares the various forms of government.
As we have a legal limit on how much each party can spend on elections big money is unable to have a meaningful effect as its lobbying power is very restricted.

[TheAxel]

The German party landscape can react very quickly to changes in society: If a relevant social issue is ignored by the established parties for too long, there is a very high probability that a new party will emerge that makes precisely this issue its main agenda. In the same way, parties also disappear into insignificance again because they either serve too small a niche (anyone still remembers the "Pirates"-Party?) or are too inflexible to find answers to new challenges.

[ricolync]

We have a somewhat similar parliamentary system here in Finland. With a few quirks in it, but usually it ends up a coalition goverment with multiple parties against the rest in opposition for four years.
...btw HBO is about to make a miniseries of Finlands last government.

[kasper]

In the Netherlands there are now 20 parties in the 2e kamer with 150 seats. To form a government you need a coalition of 4 parties