163-723: Gerhard Fritz Kurt " Gerd " Schröder ( German: [ˈɡeːɐ̯haʁt fʁɪts kʊʁt ˈʃʁøːdɐ] ; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). As chancellor, he led a coalition government of the SPD and Alliance 90/The Greens . Since leaving public office, Schröder has worked for Russian state-owned energy companies, including Nord Stream AG , Rosneft , and Gazprom . Schröder
326-463: A Lemgo hardware shop from 1958 to 1961 and subsequently worked in a Lage retail shop and after that as an unskilled construction worker and a sales clerk in Göttingen while studying at night school for a general qualification for university entrance ( Abitur ). He did not have to do military service because his father had died in the war. In 1966, Schröder secured entrance to a university, passing
489-543: A motion of confidence ( Vertrauensfrage , literally "question of trust"), either combined with a legislative proposal or as a standalone vote. If such a vote fails, the chancellor may ask the president for the dissolution of the Bundestag ; they are however not bound to do so, and the president in turn is not bound to follow this request. The chancellor must appoint one of the cabinet ministers as vice chancellor (Article 69.1 Basic Law). The vice chancellor may deputise for
652-556: A "chancellor majority" of yes-votes. If the Bundestag is unable to elect a chancellor in these fourteen days, a final ballot is held on the very next day. Once again, candidates must be nominated by at least a quarter of all MPs. Candidates receiving a "chancellor majority" in this ballot are elected. Otherwise, it is up to the President of Germany either to appoint the candidate with the plurality of votes as Chancellor or to dissolve
815-516: A "supply-side agenda" to respond to globalisation, the demands of capital markets and technological change. Schröder's efforts backfired within his own party, where its left-wing rejected the Schröder–Blair call for cutbacks to the welfare state and pro-business policies. Instead, the paper took part of the blame for a succession of six German state election losses in 1999 for the Social Democratic Party. Only by 2000, Schröder managed to capitalise on
978-742: A Turkish prison in October 2017, German media reported that Schröder had acted as mediator in the conflict and, on the request of Gabriel, met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to secure the release. After the 2018 and 2023 Turkish presidential elections, he represented the German government at Erdoğan's inauguration ceremony in Ankara (jointly with Christian Wulff , 2023). Schröder's plans after leaving office as chancellor and resigning his Bundestag seat included resuming his law practice in Berlin, writing
1141-477: A book, and implementing plans for twin pipelines for Gazprom, Russia's leading energy company. He was subsequently retained by the Swiss publisher Ringier AG as a consultant. Other board memberships include the following: In addition, Schröder has held several other paid and unpaid positions since his retirement from German politics, including: Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany , officially
1304-470: A broad retreat from the world market and a move away from capitalist industry. Bahro also became involved in the peace movement , advocating a nuclear-free Europe . Bahro's Dare Commune was an alternative community during the early days of the Greens. He believed that the transformation of society must begin on a small scale, requiring a change in the people themselves and a rediscovery of spirituality. Bahro
1467-575: A community in the Eifel. Bahro joined her group; they married in 1988, and had a daughter. Seeing the rapid decline of the GDR , at the end of 1989 Bahro went to East Berlin to fight against the feared "sellout of the GDR," its absorption by the Federal Republic. He wanted to work to ensure that the regime could keep its autonomy and maintain what he thought was its greatest political achievement:
1630-753: A comparison with the political and social situation in the Weimar Republic : At that time, there had also been a broad movement in society which was dissatisfied with prevailing conditions and wanted change. What mattered now was to prevent the errors and political disasters of the past. In the Weimar Republic, the "brown" pole of the political spectrum (the Nazis ) overpowered the left with "nationalist mythology in disguise; therefore, resistance to capitalist development" could not begin. Bahro's "popular uprising" could occur this time without violence, but it
1793-482: A conflict over privatization plans at German railway operator Deutsche Bahn ; the plans eventually fell through. In 2016, he was appointed by Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel to mediate (alongside economist Bert Rürup ) in a dispute between two of Germany's leading retailers, Edeka and REWE Group , over the takeover of supermarket chain Kaiser's Tengelmann. Following the release of German activist Peter Steudtner from
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#17327878705791956-513: A consensus-oriented body similar to the British House of Lords . The book met a mostly negative response, and Bahro's references to a prince and an invisible church were criticized. In 1986, Bahro held "learning workshops" at his home in Worms , which featured discussion of his ideas and meditation. He met Beatrice Ingermann, who had been conducting a similar project since 1983 that was also
2119-495: A department minister. The chancellor presided over the government, and he had to conduct business in accordance with given rules of procedure. In practice the Reich chancellor's power to determine political guidelines was limited by his own party as well as the other parties in the governing coalition. The Weimar chancellors were accordingly men whose strength lay in mediation rather than political initiative. Constitutionally, there
2282-682: A few days later. On 9 November 1918, Imperial Chancellor Prince Maximilian of Baden , handed over his office of chancellor to Friedrich Ebert . Ebert continued to serve as head of government during the three months between the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the end of the German Empire in November 1918, the beginning of the November 11, 1918 Armistice , and the first gathering behind the Western Front battle lines and trenches of
2445-764: A five-year delay in Europe's currency union. After taking office, he made his first official trip abroad to France for meetings with President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in October 1998. A 2001 meeting held by both leaders in Blaesheim later gave the name to a regular series of informal meetings between the French President, the German Chancellor, and their foreign ministers. The meetings were held alternately in France and Germany. At
2608-710: A full-time President of the European Council , chosen by heads of state and government; their agreement later formed the basis of discussions at the Convention on the Future of Europe and became law with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon . Ahead of the French referendum on a European Constitution , Schröder joined Chirac in urging French voters to back the new treaty, which would have enshrined new rules for
2771-561: A lively interest, supported the movement. In May 1968 he was interviewed by a member of the Central Committee , who made it clear that his solidarity with the "counter-revolution" was no longer tolerated. This led Bahro to develop his ideas systematically, and to publish them. His decision was reinforced by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia on 21 August. This was, as Bahro later said, "the blackest day" of his life and
2934-778: A member of the party. Schröder was born in Blomberg , Lippe , in Nazi Germany . His father, Fritz Schröder, a lance corporal in the Wehrmacht , was killed in action in World War II in Romania on 4 October 1944, almost six months after Gerhard's birth. His mother, Erika (née Vosseler), worked as an agricultural labourer to support herself and her two sons. After the war, the area where Schröder lived became part of West Germany. He completed an apprenticeship in retail sales in
3097-461: A million copies. The fact that Schröder served on the Volkswagen board (a position that came with his position as minister-president of Lower Saxony) and tended to prefer pro-car policies led to him being nicknamed the car chancellor ( Auto-Kanzler ). In 1997, Schröder joined the minister-presidents of two other German states, Kurt Biedenkopf and Edmund Stoiber , in making the case for
3260-422: A new name: Socialist Unity Party of Germany – Party of Democratic Socialism (German: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands – Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus, abbreviated SED-PDS). Bahro's request to address the conference as a guest speaker found only a slight majority (54%), and he was granted only 30 minutes, not the requested 45 minutes. Bahro was annoyed at this and had to improvise. After reading out
3423-584: A number of celebrities. Bahro was awarded the Carl von Ossietzky Medal by the International League for Human Rights (Berlin) and made a member of the Swedish and Danish chapters of PEN International . On 11 October 1979, the 30th anniversary of the founding of the GDR, Bahro was granted amnesty. On 17 October he was deported with his former wife, their two children and his partner Ursula Beneke to
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#17327878705793586-534: A pragmatic new Social Democrat who would promote economic growth while strengthening Germany's generous social welfare system. After the resignation of Oskar Lafontaine as Leader of the Social Democratic Party in March 1999, in protest at Schröder's adoption of a number of what Lafontaine considered " neo-liberal " policies, Schröder took over his rival's office as well. In April 1999, in Germany's first session in
3749-534: A strong monarchist, bureaucratic, and ultimately antiparliamentary component, as in the Prussian tradition of, for instance, Hardenberg . In both of these aspects, the executive of the earlier confederation, and then empire, as it was formed in 1867 and 1871, was deliberately different from the previous Imperial Ministry of the German revolutionary years of 1848–1849 , which had been led by a prime minister elected by
3912-550: A vice chancellor under the nominal authority of the Mainz archbishop. Upon the 1620 Battle of White Mountain , Emperor Ferdinand II created the office of an Archduchy of Austria court chancellor in charge of the internal and foreign affairs of the ruling dynasty of the Habsburg monarchy . From 1753 onwards, the office of an Austrian state chancellor was held by Prince Kaunitz . The imperial chancellery lost its importance, and from
4075-729: Is a historical analysis of the development of socialism in the Soviet Union . Bahro concludes that in the Soviet Union (and, consequently, also in countries such as the GDR) not the theoretically expected socialism but a form of proto-socialism had emerged. For the reason, he posits that at the time of the October Revolution the Soviet Union was far from the stage of development presumed in Marx's theory of history . Nevertheless,
4238-416: Is called "constructive motion of no confidence" ( konstruktives Misstrauensvotum ) and was created to avoid the situation that existed in the Weimar Republic, when it was easier to gather a parliament majority willing to remove a government in office than to find a majority capable of supporting a new stable government. In order to garner legislative support in the Bundestag , the chancellor can also ask for
4401-458: Is divided into three parts: The introduction begins with the premise that the Communist movement did not lead to the theoretically expected situation, but instead continued on the capitalist path with only superficial changes. " Alienation and the subaltern mentality of the working masses continue on a new level." The book analyzes the reasons for this, and offers solutions. The first part
4564-530: Is seen as such within the German public, it is only the third highest office , following the head of state (the President of Germany ) and the President of the Bundestag , a position similar to the speaker of the federal parliament. Whichever major party ( CDU /CSU or SPD ) does not hold the chancellorship usually calls its leading candidate for the federal election "chancellor-candidate" ( Kanzlerkandidat ). The federal government ( Bundesregierung ) consists of
4727-534: The Bundespräsidium , (i.e. the Prussian king; since 1871 called German Emperor). The state secretaries ( Staatssekretäre ) were civil servants subordinate to the chancellor and similar to ministers. Besides his executive duties, the constitution gave the chancellor only one function: presiding over the German Empire's upper legislative chamber of the Bundesrat (Federal Council), the representative organ of
4890-552: The 1998 state elections , Schröder's Social Democrats increased their share of the vote by about four percentage points over the 44.3 percent they recorded in the previous elections in 1994 – a postwar record for the party in Lower Saxony that reversed a string of Social Democrat reversals in state elections elsewhere. Following the 1998 national elections , Schröder became chancellor as head of an SPD-Green coalition. Throughout his campaign for chancellor, he portrayed himself as
5053-629: The Abitur exam at Westfalen-Kolleg, Bielefeld . From 1966 to 1971 he studied law at the University of Göttingen . In 1976, he passed his second law examination, and he subsequently worked as a lawyer until 1990. Among his more controversial cases, Schröder helped Horst Mahler , a founding member of the Baader-Meinhof terrorist group, to secure both an early release from prison and permission to practice law again in Germany. Schröder joined
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5216-487: The Bundespräsidium , appointed him on 14 July 1867. Under the German Empire's constitution of 1 January 1871, the king had the additional title of Emperor. The constitution still called the chancellor, Bundeskanzler . This was changed a few months later in the new revised constitution of 16 April 1871 to Reichskanzler . Since the office remained the same, it was not necessary for Bismarck to be re-appointed. In
5379-794: The German Constitution ). The current officeholder is Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party , who was elected in December 2021, succeeding Angela Merkel . He was elected after the SPD entered into a coalition agreement with Alliance 90/The Greens and the FDP . The office of Chancellor has a long history, stemming back to the Holy Roman Empire ( c. 900-1806), when the office of German arch chancellor
5542-490: The German Empire , First German Republic (Weimar Republic) , National Socialist Germany (Nazi Germany) , Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) / German Democratic Republic (East Germany) or the earlier North German Confederation of 1867–1871, then the current reunified, revived and expanded Federal Republic of Germany - nearly all of them with the title of Chancellor as the elected head of government. In
5705-524: The German Empire , the Reichskanzler (" Imperial Chancellor ") served both as the emperor's first minister and as presiding officer of the Bundesrat , the upper chamber of the German parliament. He was neither elected by nor responsible to parliament (the Reichstag ). Instead, the chancellor was appointed by the emperor. The federal level had four organs: Technically, the foreign ministers of
5868-527: The LPG agricultural cooperative . In 1959 Bahro married Gundula Lambke, a Russian language teacher. The couple had two daughters (one of whom died at birth) and a son, in addition to Gundula's daughter. In 1960 Bahro was appointed to the party leadership of the University of Greifswald , where he founded the Unsere Universität ("Our University") newspaper and served as editor-in-chief. The same year saw
6031-593: The Lernwerkstatt [Learning Workshop] a non-profit organization in Niederstadtfeld , and he planned similar experiments with new sustainable living and economic systems in the former GDR. A conversation with the Minister-President of Saxony , Kurt Biedenkopf , in the summer of 1991 led to the socio-ecological futurology project LebensGut in the village of Pommritz , near Bautzen . There,
6194-466: The National Assembly . In 1871, the concept of the federal chancellor was transferred to the executive of the newly formed German Empire, which now also contained the several South German states. Here too, the terms of "chancellor" and "federal agency" (as opposed to "ministry" or "government") suggested an (apparent) lower priority of the federal executive as compared to the governments of
6357-595: The Orange Revolution . In 2005, Schröder suggested at the ceremonial introduction of the Airbus A380 in Toulouse that there was still "room in the boat" of EADS for Russia. In his last days in office in 2005 he signed a deal between Germany and Russian state-owned Gazprom to build Nord Stream 1 before leaving office and almost immediately joining the pipeline company's board. He rejected criticism of
6520-704: The Public Prosecutor General initiated proceedings related to accusations against Schröder of complicity in crimes against humanity due to his role in Russian state-owned corporations, while the CDU/CSU group demanded that Schröder be included in the European Union sanctions against individuals with ties to the Russian government. An SPD party arbitration committee ruled in March 2023 that he had not violated any party rules and would remain
6683-601: The United Nations Security Council in December 1998, Schröder pledged "unlimited solidarity". But, along with French President Jacques Chirac and many other world leaders, Schröder later spoke out strongly against the 2003 invasion of Iraq and refused any military assistance in that invasion. Schröder's stance caused political friction between the US and Germany, in particular because he used this topic for his 2002 election campaign. Schröder's stance set
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6846-674: The budget of the European Union be cut, saying his country was paying most for European "waste." He later moderated his views when his government held the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 1999. In 2003, Schröder and Chirac agreed to share power in the institutions of the European Union between a President of the European Commission , elected by the European Parliament , and
7009-596: The donations scandal of his Christian Democratic opposition to push through a landmark tax reform bill and re-establish his dominance of the German political scene. Schröder's tenure oversaw the seat of government move from Bonn to Berlin . In May 2001, Schröder moved to his new official residence, the Federal Chancellery in Berlin , almost two years after the city became the seat of the German Government. He had previously been working out of
7172-538: The federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany , is the head of the federal government of Germany , and the commander-in-chief of the German Armed Forces during wartime . The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag on the proposal of the federal president and without debate (Article 63 of
7335-464: The "strategic partnership" between Berlin and Moscow, including the opening of a gas pipeline over the Baltic Sea exclusively between Russia and Germany (see "Gazprom controversy" below). During his time in office, he visited the country five times. Schröder was criticised in the media, and subsequently by Angela Merkel, for calling Putin a "flawless democrat" on 22 November 2004, only days before Putin prematurely congratulated Viktor Yanukovich during
7498-445: The 1945 defeat in World War II , with the new reorganized Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)'s Basic Law (constitution) of 1949 , the title of Bundeskanzler - "Federal Chancellor" was revived, continuing to the present after 1992 with the Reunification of Germany following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War , and a newly expanded Federal Republic of Germany . Due to his administrative tasks,
7661-420: The 1994 and 1998 state elections. He was subsequently also appointed to the supervisory board of Volkswagen , the largest company in Lower Saxony and of which the state of Lower Saxony is a major stockholder. Following his election as Minister-President in 1990, Schröder also became a member of the board of the federal SPD. In 1997 and 1998, he served as President of the Bundesrat . Between 1994 and 1998, he
7824-567: The 2002 election, the SPD steadily lost support in opinion polls. Many increasingly perceived Schröder's Third Way program to be a dismantling of the German welfare state . Moreover, Germany's high unemployment rate remained a serious problem for the government. Schröder's tax policies were also unpopular; when the satirical radio show The Gerd Show released The Tax Song ( Der Steuersong ), featuring Schröder's voice (by impressionist Elmar Brandt ) lampooning Germany's indirect taxation , it became Germany's 2002 Christmas #1 hit and sold over
7987-424: The Basic Law can be divided into three phases: The process begins with the President of Germany proposing a candidate to the Bundestag (A formality, as they are usually a candidate on which majority parties have agreed to beforehand), who is then voted upon without debate ("1st voting phase"). If the nominee reaches the necessary "chancellor majority", the President of Germany will appoint him or her and, after that,
8150-447: The Basic Law sets forth three principles that define how the executive branch functions: Political party: CDU SPD The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag and formally appointed by the president of Germany. A chancellor's election is necessary whenever the office of Chancellor has fallen vacant. This is the case if a newly elected Bundestag meets for the first time, or during legislative periods, if
8313-433: The Basic Law, the chancellor may set the number of cabinet ministers and dictate their specific duties. Chancellor Ludwig Erhard had the largest cabinet, with 22 ministers, in the mid-1960s. Helmut Kohl presided over 17 ministers at the start of his fourth term in 1994; the 2002 cabinet, the second of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, had 13 ministers, and the Angela Merkel cabinet as of 22 November 2005 had 15. Article 65 of
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#17327878705798476-417: The Bundesrat, Bismarck could effectively control the proceedings by making deals with the smaller states. The term chancellor signalled the seemingly low priority of this institution compared to the governments of the German states, because the new chancellor of the federal empire should not be a full-fledged prime minister, in contrast to the heads of the states. The title of chancellor additionally symbolized
8639-410: The Bundestag and call new elections. Another possibility to vote a new chancellor into office is the constructive vote of no confidence , which allows the Bundestag to replace a sitting chancellor, if it elects a new chancellor with the "chancellor-majority" (see below). As of 2023, all chancellors of the federal republic have been (re-)elected on proposal of the President and on the first ballot with
8802-399: The CSU's Edmund Stoiber . On 10 October, it was announced that the parties had agreed to form a grand coalition. Schröder agreed to cede the chancellorship to Merkel, but the SPD would hold the majority of government posts and retain considerable control of government policy. Merkel was elected chancellor on 22 November. On 11 October 2005, Schröder announced that he would not take a post in
8965-505: The Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999. In 2004, he and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao established a secure, direct telephone line. He also pressed for the lifting of the EU arms embargo on China. After leaving public office, Schröder represented Germany at the funeral services for Boris Yeltsin in Moscow (jointly with Horst Köhler and Helmut Kohl , 2007) and Fidel Castro in Santiago de Cuba (jointly with Egon Krenz , 2016). Schröder and Kurt Biedenkopf served as mediators in
9128-469: The Confederation under which its prime creator / instigator Otto von Bismarck , (previously foreign minister, then Chancellor of the Kingdom of Prussia since 1862), became Bundeskanzler (meaning " Federal Chancellor ") in 1867. With the enlargement of this short-lived federal state to the newly unified and established German Empire (" Second Reich ") in 1871, the title was renamed to Reichskanzler (meaning " Imperial Chancellor "). 78 years later after
9291-429: The Enabling Act to merge the office of chancellor with that of the president to create a new office, "the leader" (or Führer ). Although the offices were merged, Hitler continued to be addressed as " Führer und Reichskanzler " indicating that the head of state and head of government were still separate positions, albeit held by the same person, although the title of " Reichskanzler " was quietly dropped. This separation
9454-404: The FDJ he was hampered by conflict with the increasingly restrictive policies of the SED, which made him a target of criticism. Due to the unauthorized publication of an article by Volker Braun , Bahro was dismissed as deputy chief in 1967. From 1967 to 1977 Bahro worked for a number of companies in the rubber and plastics industry as an organization development specialist. Seeing conditions in
9617-447: The Federal Republic of Germany, in accordance with his July request. In West Germany Bahro soon joined the nascent Green party, making a commitment to unite socialist and values-based conservatism currents in the new party since compromise was a necessity. A 1980 book formulated elements of a new policy: the relationship between ecology and socialism. Breaking from his position in The Alternative , Bahro now felt that classical Marxism
9780-401: The GDR, however, Bahro's recognition was suppressed and he was told nothing of the reaction to his book and subsequent arrest. About half of the copies of The Alternative which Bahro had posted shortly before his arrest in the GDR were intercepted by the authorities. His influence of East German students was limited. To write and publish a book was, in itself, legal in the GDR; however, Bahro
9943-399: The Green Party entered the Bundestag for the first time in March 1983, the question arose whether they would join a coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (the SPD) or remain in opposition. Bahro strongly favored the latter option (which placed him in opposition to Joschka Fischer ), and believed in renewal rather than reform. In his December 1984 "Hamburg speech", Bahro made
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#173278787057910106-405: The Iraq war without a UN mandate. In the summer of 2002, during the federal election campaign, he proclaimed the "German Way" as an alternative to the "American warmongering" in Iraq and presented Germany as a peace power. In May 2019 at WORLD.MINDS in Belgrade, 20 years to the day after the bombing of Belgrade by NATO troops, Schröder stated unequivocally that in retrospect, if he had to make
10269-414: The Napoleonic Wars and the peace-making Congress of Vienna did not have a government or parliament, only the single-chamber legislature Bundestag as representative organ of the various German states in the 51 year old Confederation. The role of the chancellor has varied during the different eras. From 1867 to 1918, the chancellor was the only responsible minister at the federal level. He was appointed by
10432-471: The Nazi regime and appointed Otto Graf Lambsdorff to represent German industry in the negotiations with survivors' organisations, American lawyers and the US government. Schröder sent forces to Kosovo and to Afghanistan as part of NATO operations. Until Schröder's chancellorship, German troops had not taken part in combat actions since World War II . At the beginning of the Iraq crisis, Schröder declared in March 2002 that Germany would not take part in
10595-559: The New Left , claimed that Bahro's real goal was an " eco-fascist dictatorship". Bahro indignantly denied this but soon found himself confronted with more accusations of this nature. The accusations were based on quotations from his book Logik der Rettung . In 1992, a former party colleague of his, Jutta Ditfurth joined the debate when, in her book Feuer in die Herzen [Putting Fire in the Hearts], she accused him of turning to esoteric, authoritarian and nationalist ideas. In addition to his activities in Berlin, until 1991 Bahro also active in
10758-431: The People's Deputies , to attempt to govern Germany in the crisis aftermath of the war reversals and seek an armistice / peace with the attacking / invading Allies of World War I , which was attained in the Armistice of 11 November 1918 on the Western Front in occupied northern France and Belgium . Following the defeat of the 1918 German Empire in the First World War , a new post-war democratic republic government
10921-419: The President of the Bundestag will administer the oath of office before the assembled house. If this nominee is not elected, the right of nomination is transferred onto the Bundestag: Candidates can now be nominated for election, whereby a nomination must be supported by at least a quarter of all MPs. The Bundestag can hold any number of ballots in this manner for two weeks. To be elected, a candidate still needs
11084-440: The Reich President was forced to ask Adolf Hitler, to become Chancellor of Germany. Subsequently, the 1919 Weimar Constitution was de facto set aside. After the death of elderly German Reich President Paul von Hindenburg the following year in 1934, Adolf Hitler, the dictatorial party leader, also then took over the powers of the president. The new official title became Führer und Reichskanzler (meaning "Leader and Chancellor of
11247-404: The Reich"). The 1949 constitution gave the chancellor much greater powers than during the Weimar Republic of the 1920s and early 1930s, while strongly diminishing the role of the federal president. Germany is today often referred to as a "chancellor democracy", reflecting the role of the chancellor as the country's chief executive. Since 1867, 33 people have served as heads of government of
11410-458: The Reichstag before he made ministerial appointments. Based on these talks, the president would get a sense of which potential chancellor would be able to build a stable majority in the Reichstag. According to the sense of the Weimar Constitution, the president was thus to have the initiative. The task of putting together the Reich government was nevertheless the responsibility of the chancellor. The president could not appoint anyone as minister whom
11573-402: The Reichstag could also impeach the chancellor as well as the ministers and the president before the State Court for the German Reich ( Staatsgerichtshof für das Deutsche Reich ), the Weimar Republic's constitutional court. Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933 by Paul von Hindenburg . On taking office, Hitler immediately began accumulating power and changing
11736-542: The Romans . Already in mediaeval times, the German chancellor had political power like Archbishop Willigis (archchancellor 975–1011, regent for King Otto III (AD 991–994) or Rainald von Dassel (chancellor, 1156–1162 and 1166–1167), under Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa . In 1559, Emperor Ferdinand I established the agency of an imperial chancellery ( Reichshofkanzlei ) at the Vienna's Hofburg Palace , headed by
11899-667: The SPD and SI chairman, who reviewed Olle & Wolter at that time, had just asked for more books on the subject. In 1985, Schröder met the GDR leader Erich Honecker during a visit to East Berlin . In the 1986 Lower Saxony state election , Schröder was elected to the Landtag of Lower Saxony and became leader of the SPD group. After the SPD won the state elections in June 1990, Schröder became Minister-President of Lower Saxony as head of an SPD- Greens coalition; in this position, he also won
12062-653: The SPD parliamentary group. He also became chairman of the SPD Hanover district. Considered ambitious from early on in his political career, it was widely reported and never denied, that in 1982, a drunken Schröder stood outside the West German federal chancellery yelling: "I want to get in." That same year, he wrote an article on the idea of a red/green coalition for a book at Olle & Wolter, Berlin; this appeared later in Die Zeit . Chancellor Willy Brandt ,
12225-642: The Social Democratic Party in 1963. In 1978 he became the federal chairman of the Young Socialists , the youth organisation of the SPD. He spoke for the dissident Rudolf Bahro , as did President Jimmy Carter , Herbert Marcuse , and Wolf Biermann . In 1980, Schröder was elected to the German Bundestag (federal parliament), where he wore a sweater instead of the traditional suit. Under the leadership of successive chairmen Herbert Wehner (1980–83) and Hans-Jochen Vogel (1983–86), he served in
12388-577: The United States as the world's most competitive economy by 2010. Instead, he urged the EU to reform the Pact to encourage growth, and to seek the reorientation of the €100,000,000,000 annual EU budget towards research and innovation. By 2005, he had successfully pushed for an agreement on sweeping plans to rewrite the Pact, which now allowed EU members with deficits above the original 3% of GDP limit to cite
12551-560: The West German magazine Der Spiegel published an extract from The Alternative and an interview with Bahro, during which he admitted writing the book. The next day, Bahro was arrested and taken to the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen prison. That evening, West German television stations ARD and ZDF broadcast Bahro's interview. In early September, the book went on sale. The first edition was sold out before delivery, and
12714-552: The abdication of the emperor / kaiser Wilhelm II of the Hohenzollern dynasty , who then left Germany with his family for exile in the neighboring Kingdom of the Netherlands . Although he lacked the constitutional authority, the last imperial chancellor handed over his office to Friedrich Ebert , (leader of the anti-war Social Democratic Party who the next day became co-chairman of the temporary revolutionary Council of
12877-419: The beginning of 1980, Bahro studied with Oskar Negt at the University of Hanover . His thesis appeared as a book, A Plea for Creative Initiative . In 1983, he earned his habilitation in social philosophy. In 1982, Bahro adopted a more radical position due to the contemporary economic crisis. He advocated a restructuring of society in economic, environmental and social-policy terms, which should be linked to
13040-594: The building in eastern Berlin used by the former leaders of East Germany . Throughout the build-up to the 2002 German election , the Social Democrats and the Green Party trailed the centre-right candidate Edmund Stoiber until the catastrophe caused by rising floodwater in Germany led to an improvement in his polling numbers. Furthermore, his popular opposition to a war in Iraq dominated campaigning in
13203-560: The chairmanship of the SPD in 2004. The first chancellor, Konrad Adenauer , set many precedents that continue today and established the chancellorship as the clear focus of power in Germany. Under the provisions of the Basic Law giving him the power to set guidelines for all fields of policy, Adenauer arrogated nearly all major decisions to himself. He often treated his ministers as mere extensions of his authority rather than colleagues. While his successors have tended to be less domineering,
13366-461: The chancellor and cabinet ministers. The chancellor's authority emanates from the provisions of the Basic Law and in practice from their status as leader of the party (or coalition of parties) holding a majority of seats in the Bundestag (federal parliament). With the exception of Helmut Schmidt and Olaf Scholz , the chancellor has also been chairman of their own party. This was the case with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder from 1999 until he resigned
13529-565: The chancellor had not proposed. The chancellor alone had to answer to the Reichstag and the president for the policy guidelines, and he determined whether the conduct of business by the individual Reich ministries conformed to the guidelines. The government's decisions required a majority vote of the ministers, who sitting together were known as the National Ministry (Article 58). The chancellor could therefore be outvoted, as could
13692-483: The chancellor has acquired enough ex officio authority (in addition to their constitutional powers) that Germany is often described by constitutional law experts as a "chancellor democracy". The chancellor determines the composition of the Federal Cabinet . The president formally appoints and dismisses cabinet ministers, on the recommendation of the chancellor; no parliamentary approval is needed. According to
13855-403: The chancellor, if they are absent or unable to perform their duties. Although the chancellor is theoretically free to choose any cabinet minister, in coalition governments the leadership of the second biggest coalition party usually designates one of their ministers for the position, whom the chancellor appoints accordingly. Rudolf Bahro Rudolf Bahro (18 November 1935 – 5 December 1997)
14018-548: The coalition, which would have continued the policies of Schröder's government, but had objected to Angela Merkel replacing him as chancellor. The conference voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal. In his first term, Schröder's government decided to phase out nuclear power , fund renewable energies , institute civil unions for same-sex partners, and liberalise the naturalization law. During Schröder's time in office, economic growth slowed to only 0.2% in 2002 and Gross Domestic Product shrank in 2003, while German unemployment
14181-449: The costs of "the reunification of Europe" as a mitigating factor. Schröder was regarded a strong ally of Prime Minister Leszek Miller of Poland and supporter of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union . On 1 August 2004, the sixtieth anniversary of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising , he apologised to Poland for "the immeasurable suffering" of its people during the conflict; he was the first German Chancellor to be invited to an anniversary of
14344-574: The days of Queen Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II , merely existed on paper. After the 1806 dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon, Prince Klemens von Metternich served as state chancellor of the German-speaking Austrian Empire , likewise Prince Karl August von Hardenberg acted as Kingdom of Prussia 's chancellor (1810–1822). The German Confederation of 1815–1866, organized after
14507-671: The decision again, he would authorize the aerial bombardment of the former Yugoslavia again. Schröder said that "the easiest solution would be to first accept Serbia into the European Union and then within, as an integral part the EU, find a solution [to the Kosovo issue]." With Germany having a long experience with terrorism itself, Schröder declared solidarity with the United States after the September 11 attacks in 2001. When Schröder left office, Germany had 2,000 troops in Afghanistan,
14670-614: The deeper social and cultural causes of the crisis and develop practical alternatives. Bahro thus set up his own school of social science that is not to be confused with others that also go by the name of social ecology. On 16 June 1990, again represented by Gysi, Bahro was rehabilitated by the Supreme Court of the GDR. On 15 September, shortly before the end of the GDR, the Minister of Education and Science appointed him associate professor of social ecology at Humboldt University. From
14833-542: The elections, neither Schröder's SPD-Green coalition nor the alliance between CDU/CSU and the FDP led by Angela Merkel achieved a majority in parliament, but the CDU/CSU had a stronger popular electoral lead by one percentage point. On election night, both Schröder and Merkel claimed victory and chancellorship, but after initially ruling out a grand coalition with Merkel, Schröder and Müntefering entered negotiations with her and
14996-400: The elimination of short-term tactics and government decentralization. He advocated an "invisible church", which would provide the necessary spiritual dimension. As a conservative on the left, he noted common ground with CDU politician and critic Kurt Biedenkopf . Inspired by Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika , Bahro hoped for a "prince of environmental change" and suggested the establishment of
15159-548: The empire's states instructed their states' deputies to the Bundesrat and therefore outranked the chancellor. For this reason, Prince Bismarck (as he was from 1871 onwards) continued to serve as both minister president and foreign minister of the Kingdom of Prussia for virtually his entire tenure as chancellor of the empire (1871–1890), since he wanted to continue to exercise the power. Because Prussia controlled seventeen votes in
15322-414: The established Social Democratic political tradition of Wandel durch Handel . Schröder also began seeking a resolution ways to compensate Nazi-era slave labourers almost as soon as he was elected chancellor. Reversing the hard-line stance of his predecessor, Helmut Kohl , he agreed to the government contributing alongside industry to a fund that would compensate people forced to work in German factories by
15485-536: The expanded EU of 25 member states and widened the areas of collective action. Also in 2003, both Schröder and Chirac forced a suspension of sanctions both faced for breaching the European Union's fiscal rules that underpin the euro – the Stability and Growth Pact – for three years in a row. Schröder later called for a revision of the Lisbon Strategy and thereby a retreat from Europe's goal of overtaking
15648-674: The factories soon brought him to the conclusion that the East German economy was in a crisis and the primary reason for this was that workers had little voice in the workplace. He expressed this view in a December 1967 letter to the Chairman of the State Council, Walter Ulbricht , proposing a transfer of workplace responsibility to the workers with grassroots democracy . A few weeks later, the Prague Spring began; Bahro took
15811-593: The family lived in Lower Silesia : first in the spa town of Bad Flinsberg and then in neighboring Gerlachsheim, where Bahro attended the village school. Towards the end of World War II Max Bahro was drafted into the Volkssturm , and, after his capture, detained as a Polish prisoner. As the Eastern Front approached, the family was evacuated and Bahro was separated from his mother and siblings during
15974-403: The federal states. For this reason, neither the chancellor nor the leaders of the imperial departments under his command used the title of Minister until 1918. The constitution of the German Empire was reformed / altered on 29 October 1918 , when the parliament Reichstag and Bundesrat was given the right to dismiss the chancellor. However, the change could not prevent the outbreak of revolution
16137-583: The flight (the rest of Bahro's family, with the exception of his father, died of typhoid soon afterwards). Bahro lived with an aunt in Austria and Hesse, spending several months in each location and eventually reuniting with his father, who was managing a widow's farm in Rießen (now part of Siehdichum ). From 1950 to 1954, Bahro attended high school in Fürstenberg (now part of Eisenhüttenstadt ). Since it
16300-415: The former chancellor died or resigned. The chancellor's election is one of the few cases in which a vote in the Bundestag requires a majority of all elected members , not just a majority of those assembled at the time, or the so-called Kanzlermehrheit ("chancellor majority"). As with other elections performed by the Bundestag, the chancellor is elected via secret ballot. The election procedure laid down in
16463-578: The fortieth anniversary of the Elysée Treaty , both sides agreed that rather than summits being held twice a year, there would now be regular meetings of a council of French and German ministers overseen by their respective foreign affairs ministers. In an unprecedented move, Chirac formally agreed to represent Schröder in his absence at a European Council meeting in October 2003. In his first months in office, Schröder vigorously demanded that Germany's net annual contribution of about $ 12,000,000,000 to
16626-588: The head of the clerics at the chapel of an Kaiserpfalz during the Carolingian Empire (AD 800–887), beginning with first the king of the Franks , Charlemagne , was also called chancellor (from Latin : cancellarius ). The chapel's college acted as the emperor's chancery issuing deeds and capitularies . From the days of Louis the German , the Roman Catholic archbishop of Mainz
16789-450: The insurgents in a wall newspaper and openly criticized the restricted-information policy of the GDR leadership. As a result of his views, national security spied on him for two years. After passing the government licensing examination , the SED sent Bahro to Sachsendorf (a part of Lindendorf ). He edited a local newspaper, Die Linie ( The Line ) and encouraged the area's farmers to join
16952-544: The largest contingent from any nation other than the United States, UK, France, Canada and after two years Afghanistan. During their time in government, both Schröder and his foreign minister Joschka Fischer were widely considered sincerely, if not uncritically, pro-Israel. Schröder represented the German government at the funeral service for King Hussein of Jordan in Amman on 9 February 1999. When British planes joined United States forces bombing Iraq without consulting
17115-444: The latter and opted not to join the board of Russian state-run gas company Gazprom . He also had roles as a global manager for investment bank Rothschild , and as chairman of the board of football club Hannover 96 . After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , Schröder was criticized for his policies towards Vladimir Putin 's government, his work for Russian state-owned companies, and his lobbying on behalf of Russia. In March 2022,
17278-464: The loose federal government of the brief North German Confederation , which was created on 1 July 1867, had the title Bundeskanzler . The only person to hold the office for those three years was Otto von Bismarck , the serving minister president of the Kingdom of Prussia. Chancellor Bismarck served under the king of Prussia of the Hohenzollern royal dynasty , then William (Wilhelm) I , holder of
17441-472: The manuscript reached individuals in the GDR by mail. Later in West Germany, Bahro said that the theoretical bases for The Alternative were Karl August Wittfogel 's 1957 Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power and earlier Marxist works. He was unable to cite Wittfogel because of the latter's anticommunism . Wittfogel also influenced Bahro's later ecological work. The Alternative
17604-695: The move and announced legal action over reports he would be paid between €200,000 (£134,000) and €1m a year. In 2022 he was reportedly paid about $ 270,000 a year as chairman of the shareholder committee. Only a few days after his chancellorship, Schröder joined the board of directors of the Nord Stream joint venture, thus bringing about new speculations about his prior objectivity. In his memoirs Decisions: My Life in Politics , Schröder still defends his friend and political ally, and states that "it would be wrong to place excessive demands on Russia when it comes to
17767-416: The names of all the people who had helped him with his book, Die Alternative , he criticized the previous speaker, Minister President and Deputy Party Chairman Hans Modrow , as well as Karl Marx, Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin . He went on to present his vision of a "socio-ecological" restructuring of the GDR. His radical environmental ideas, which were hardly known in the GDR at that time, were far removed from
17930-525: The nature of the chancellorship. After only two months in office, and following the burning of the Reichstag building , the parliament passed the Enabling Act giving the chancellor full legislative powers for a period of four years – the chancellor could introduce any law without consulting parliament. The powers of the chancellor continued to grow until August 1934, when Hindenburg died. Hitler used
18093-698: The new National Assembly of the German Republic (Weimar Republic) several months later in the town of Weimar , in February 1919, but Ebert did not then use the title of chancellor. During that time, Ebert also served as chairman of the " Council of the People's Deputies ", until a month and half later on 29 December 1918 together with the allied Independent Social Democrat party leader Hugo Haase , who unfortunately died later that next year in November 1919. The office of chancellor ( Reichskanzler )
18256-498: The new cabinet and, in November, he confirmed that he would leave politics as soon as Merkel took office. On 23 November 2005, he resigned his Bundestag seat. On 14 November 2005, at a SPD conference in Karlsruhe , Schröder urged members of the SPD to support the proposed coalition, saying it "carries unmistakably, perhaps primarily, the imprint of the Social Democrats". Many SPD members had previously indicated that they supported
18419-462: The now-defunct communist German Democratic Republic (East Germany) , which also existed in a parallel life, first occupied in the eastern Soviet Zone (including a similar wedge of the former German capital of Berlin after World War II by the Red Army of the Soviet Union , which dominated East Germany from 7 October 1949 to 3 October 1990 (when the territory of the former GDR was reunified with
18582-559: The party's campaign to unseat incumbent Helmut Kohl as chancellor. During the campaign, Schröder served as shadow minister of economic affairs, energy and transport. In 1996, Schröder caused controversy by taking a free ride on the Volkswagen corporate jet to attend the Vienna Opera Ball , along with Volkswagen CEO Ferdinand Piëch . The following year, he nationalized a big steel mill in Lower Saxony to preserve jobs. In
18745-414: The path chosen by Lenin was correct. Bahro regards Stalin's subsequent massive industrialization as a necessary development, justifying the party purge as inevitable. In the second part, Bahro analyzes the existing social system , which he believes was incorrectly called " real socialism " when in reality it was still a class society . He detailed how this society worked, and argues that this provided
18908-650: The philosopher of the SED), Georg Klaus and Wolfgang Heise . The topic of his thesis was " Johannes R. Becher and the relationship of the German working class and its party to the national question of our people". Until 1956, Bahro was an admirer of Lenin and Stalin ; Khrushchev's leaked " secret speech " in February 1956 changed his views. He followed the Polish October and the Hungarian Revolution with great interest, expressed his solidarity with
19071-416: The president on the recommendation of the chancellor (Article 53), and members of the government required the confidence of the Reichstag (Article 54). The provisions gave rise to the question of who in fact was responsible for forming the government. Constitutional law expert Ernst Rudolf Huber said that the constitution had tacitly assumed that the president would have discussions with party leaders in
19234-498: The primacy of politics over economics. On 16 December 1989, Bahro had the opportunity of speaking to the assembled delegates of the extraordinary party conference of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , whose chairman had, a week ago, been his former legal counsel, Gysi. The main item on the agenda was whether the party should continue or be dissolved. What was finally decided was that the party should continue under
19397-504: The problems that interested the delegates, and his polemical introduction provoked fierce resentment. Bahro concluded that he no longer had anything in common with this party. In the spring of 1990, he began setting up an "Institute for Social Ecology" at the Humboldt University of Berlin . Instead of the usual discussion of the ecological crisis, he wanted this institute to address the issue holistically and, above all, study
19560-724: The publication of his first book, a collection of poems entitled In dieser Richtung ( In This Direction ). Beginning in 1962, Bahro worked as a consultant for the Corporate Executive Committee of the Union of Science (one of the divisions of the Free German Trade Union Federation ) in Berlin; in 1965 he was appointed deputy chief of the Freie Deutsche Jugend (FDJ) student magazine, Forum . During Bahro's tenure with
19723-495: The rate of domestic political reform and democratic development, or to judge it solely on the basis of the Chechnya conflict." Schröder's continued close connection to Vladimir Putin and his government after his chancellorship has been widely criticized in Germany. During his time in office, Schröder visited China six times. He was the first Western politician to travel to Beijing and apologise after NATO jets had mistakenly bombed
19886-453: The rationale for the observed economic stagnation. In the third part, he developed solutions, including a call for a new revolution which would transform not only the social circumstances but the people. Its intention is to overcome the subaltern mentality, the "form of existence and way of thinking of ordinary people." He demanded the abolition of the division of labor; all should participate in science, art and menial work. On 22 August 1977,
20049-518: The reason for his final break with the SED. He decided not to make the break publicly, to protect his book project. In 1972 Bahro began part-time work on his dissertation on development conditions of high-school and technical-college groups in the VEBs (state-owned enterprises of the GDR). At the same time, he secretly wrote a thematically broader manuscript which later became The Alternative . In 1973, Gundula filed for divorce; both spouses said later this
20212-789: The restored Reichstag, to applause he quoted Albanian writer Ismail Kadare , saying: "The Balkans is the yard of the European house, and in no house can peace prevail so long as people kill each other in its yard." In a move meant to signal a deepening alliance between Schröder and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, the two leaders issued an eighteen-page manifesto for economic reform in June 1999. Titled "Europe: The Third Way", or "Die Neue Mitte" in German, it called on Europe's centre-left governments to cut taxes, pursue labour and welfare reforms and encourage entrepreneurship. The joint paper said European governments needed to adopt
20375-661: The run-up to the polls. At 22 September 2002 vote, he secured another four-year term, with a narrow nine-seat majority down from 21. In February 2004, Schröder resigned as chairman of the SPD amid growing criticism from across his own party of his reform agenda; Franz Müntefering succeeded him as chairman. On 22 May 2005, after the SPD lost to the Christian Democrats (CDU) in North Rhine-Westphalia , Gerhard Schröder announced he would call federal elections "as soon as possible". A motion of confidence
20538-504: The socio-ecological research begun at the Humboldt University is also being continued, mainly by Bahro's former associate Maik Hosang . In September 1993, Bahro's wife Beatrice committed suicide following a marital dispute. He was so devastated that he had to cancel a semester of lectures. In the spring of 1994, he also became physically ill, and in the autumn of that year he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma . Bahro
20701-454: The sole exception of Helmut Kohl, who was elected to his first term via a constructive vote of no confidence against Helmut Schmidt . Unlike in other parliamentary legislatures, the Bundestag cannot remove the chancellor with a traditional motion of no confidence . Instead, the removal of a chancellor is only possible if a majority of the Bundestag members agree on a successor, who is then immediately sworn in as new chancellor. This procedure
20864-481: The stage for alleged anti-American statements by members of the SPD. The parliamentary leader of the SPD, Ludwig Stiegler , compared US President George W. Bush to Julius Caesar while Schröder's Minister of Justice, Herta Däubler-Gmelin , likened Bush's foreign policy to that of Adolf Hitler . Schröder's critics accused him of enhancing, and campaigning on, anti-American sentiments in Germany. After his 2002 re-election, Schröder and Bush rarely met and their animosity
21027-557: The strength of the truth". Rudi Dutschke was critical, classifying Bahro as detached from Leninism with too little respect for human rights and calling his suggestions "totally unrealistic". These analyses were accompanied by a broad wave of publicly expressed solidarity with Bahro, climaxing in a letter by Heinrich Böll and Günter Grass in The Times on 1 February 1978 which was also signed by Arthur Miller , Graham Greene , Carol Stern, Mikis Theodorakis and other celebrities. In
21190-410: The subordinate ministers of various portfolios (departments / agencies) on the chancellor's recommendation. The chancellor or any minister had to be dismissed if the lower chamber of the Reichstag legislative assembly (continuing its old name of the previous century of the Reichstag ) demanded it. As today, the chancellor had the prerogative to determine the guidelines of government. In reality this power
21353-496: The summer of 1985 Bahro left the Greens and focused on his new book, which was published in 1987 as Logic of Salvation . In it he described a "logic of self-extermination" and its consequences for humanity at present, presenting a "logic of life" requiring a "leap in consciousness" and a withdrawal from the industrial "mega-machine". It was important to implement a "rescue policy", before the worsening environmental crisis leads to an emergency government. Bahro called for long-term goals,
21516-456: The title "Leading Minister". The 1949 German constitution, the Basic Law ( Grundgesetz ), invests the chancellor (German, Bundeskanzler ) with broad powers to initiate government policy. For that reason, some observers refer to the German political system as a "chancellor democracy". Even though the office of chancellor is often considered the most powerful in the German political system and
21679-635: The university as a working group of the Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture. In 1990, there were accusations that Bahro was striving for "eco-dictatorship". This accusation was made particularly aggressively by the Association for the Advancement of Psychological Knowledge of Human Nature [ de ] , a right-wing organization founded in Zurich which, in a work entitled The Fascism of
21842-545: The university. In the first years, the main lecture hall ( auditorium maximum ) of the university was consistently full, and this also resulted in increased sales of his book on which the lectures were based. However, the Institute remained a temporary arrangement that could only exist thanks to financial support from the Schweisfurth Foundation . It was not until 1995 that the institute was integrated into
22005-420: The uprising. Both Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer also supported the accession of Turkey to the European Union . Marking a clear break with the caution of German foreign policy since World War II, Schröder laid out in 1999 his vision of the country's international role, describing Germany as "a great power in Europe" that would not hesitate to pursue its national interests. Schröder also continued
22168-468: The various German states (which together with the Reichstag was the Reich's lower legislative chamber and major lawmaking body). The chancellor was also nearly always Minister President of Prussia , which was the largest and dominant state in the Empire. Indirectly, this gave him the power of the Bundesrat, including to dissolve the houses of parliament and call for elections. Although effective government
22331-544: The war's unpopularity). On his first official trip to Russia in late 1998, Schröder suggested that Germany was not likely to come up with more aid for the country. He also sought to detach himself from the close personal relationship that his predecessor, Helmut Kohl , had with Russian President Boris Yeltsin , saying that German-Russian relations should "develop independently of concrete political figures." Soon after, however, he cultivated close ties with Yeltsin's successor, President Vladimir Putin , in an attempt to strengthen
22494-506: The western Federal Republic of Germany), the position of chancellor did not exist. The equivalent position of head of government there was called either Minister President (Ministerpräsident) or the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the GDR (Vorsitzender des Ministerrats der DDR) , which was the second powerful position under General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (See Leaders of East Germany ). The head of
22657-568: The winter semester 1990/1991, Bahro regularly held lectures on issues of the environmental crisis, where he further developed the theories that he had put forward in his book Logik der Rettung (published in English as Avoiding social and ecological disaster: the politics of world transformation: an inquiry into the foundations of spiritual and ecological politics ). The lectures, to which he frequently invited guest speakers, were aimed at students in all years and also attracted an audience from outside
22820-518: Was ex officio German archchancellor , a position he held until the end of the 900 year old Holy Roman Empire decreed by Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars in 1806; de jure . the archbishop of Cologne was chancellor of Italy and the archbishop of Trier of Burgundy . These three prince-archbishops were also prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire electing the King of
22983-443: Was a dissident from East Germany who, since his death, has been recognised as a philosopher, political figure and author. Bahro was a leader of the West German party The Greens , but became disenchanted with its political organization, left the party and explored spiritual approaches to sustainability . Bahro was the eldest of three children of Max Bahro, a livestock-industry consultant, and Irmgard Bahro (née Conrad). Until 1945,
23146-432: Was a lawyer before becoming a full-time politician, and he was Minister President of Lower Saxony (1990–1998) before becoming chancellor. Following the 2005 federal election , which his party lost, and after three weeks of negotiations, he stood down as chancellor in favour of Angela Merkel of the rival Christian Democratic Union . He was chairman of the board of Nord Stream AG and of Rosneft but in 2022 resigned from
23309-408: Was accused of working for the West German intelligence service (from whom he was thought to have obtained his information). On 30 June 1978, Bahro was convicted in camera of treason and betraying state secrets, and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. Evidence indicates a kangaroo court , with a predetermined verdict; an appeal to the Supreme Court of the GDR filed by defense attorney Gregor Gysi
23472-423: Was also chairman of Lower Saxonian SPD. During Schröder's time in office, first in coalition with the environmentalist Green Party, then with a clear majority, Lower Saxony became one of the most deficit-ridden of Germany's 16 federal states and unemployment rose higher than the national average of 12 percent. Ahead of the 1994 elections , SPD chairman Rudolf Scharping included Schröder in his shadow cabinet for
23635-400: Was also the fact that the president had certain special rights. The actions of the president required the countersignature of the chancellor or the minister or ministers concerned, but the president always had to be informed about matters of foreign and defence policy. The Reichstag could call for the dismissal of any member of the government, including the chancellor. Under Articles 54 and 59,
23798-566: Was as a precautionary measure to protect the children against government reprisals. However, in 1974 Gundula informed state security about the secret book project and handed over a copy of the manuscript; after that, Bahro was under surveillance . In 1975 Bahro submitted his dissertation at the Technical University Leuna-Merseburg , which was evaluated favorably by three reviewers. The Stasi intervened, engineering two opposing reviews. His work on The Alternative
23961-598: Was assumed that all high-school students would join the Free German Youth (FDJ), Bahro reluctantly joined in 1950. This was, as he later commented, the only time he did something against his will under pressure. In 1952 he applied for membership in the Socialist Unity Party (SED), which he joined in 1954. Bahro was regarded as intelligent, and graduated from high school with honors. He attended Humboldt University in Berlin from 1954 to 1959 and studied philosophy. Among his teachers were Kurt Hager (who later became
24124-413: Was continued in the Weimar Republic . The Weimar Constitution provided for a two-part executive consisting of a Reich president and a government made up of Reich ministers and a Reich chancellor (Article 52) who determined the guidelines of the government's policy (Article 56). The constitution stipulated that the president appoint and dismiss the chancellor and ministers. The ministers were appointed by
24287-495: Was convinced that his illness was the consequence of traumatic experiences such as the suicide of his wife and resisted conventional therapy, instead trying various alternative methods of diagnosis and therapy and temporarily moving into a monastery. Only after his condition deteriorated dramatically, he agreed to another course of chemotherapy . In May 1995, on his sickbed, he married his girlfriend and companion Marina Lehnert, who had been caring for his daughter for some time. After
24450-469: Was important that the Greens "are not lost" in the system. Bahro also called for the conquest of the right-left divide; to escape its minority position, the Greens should also "penetrate the territory of the Bavarian CSU ". Bahro's Hamburg speech ended with the allegation that Joschka Fischer's supporters had a lust for power, a situation that could lead to civil war and subsequent dictatorship. During
24613-584: Was influenced by the Congregation of the Benedictines and the mystical experience of God. In 1981 Bahro visited North Korea , where he was received as a guest of the state. He saw this as his most important trip, to a state he admired with a system "to satisfy all the basic requirements of security". As part of a lecture tour of the United States in summer 1983, Bahro enjoyed several weeks at Rajneeshpuram with Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho). After
24776-410: Was limited by the needs of coalition governments of the several major political parties (and numerous smaller minor ones) plus the powers of the Reich President in this early 20th century created version of a European German democratic republic and political system. When the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler came to power after receiving a plurality in the parliamentary elections on 30 January 1933, and
24939-539: Was made more evident when, in April 1945, Hitler gave instruction that upon his death, the office of the Führer would dissolve and be replaced by the previous system of administration: that of the office of the President separate from that of Chancellor. On 30 April 1945, when Hitler committed suicide, he was briefly succeeded as Chancellor by Joseph Goebbels and as President of Germany by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz . When Goebbels also committed suicide, Dönitz appointed Count Schwerin von Krosigk as head of government with
25102-523: Was no longer appropriate. Another new motif in Bahro's thinking was religion. While in custody he had studied the Bible, and when he moved to the west he noticed unhappiness in spite of material prosperity. He interpreted this as a lack of introspection and transcendence, rejecting the traditionally materialistic outlook of socialism. The goal of human emancipation was represented (in different ways) by Karl Marx and Jesus Christ. In this context, Bahro referred to early Christianity and liberation theology . At
25265-429: Was over the 10% mark. Most voters soon associated Schröder with the Agenda 2010 reform program, which included cuts in the social welfare system ( national health insurance , unemployment payments , pensions), lower taxes, and reformed regulations on employment and payment. He also eliminated capital gains tax on the sale of corporate stocks in an attempt to make the country more attractive to foreign investors. After
25428-503: Was possible only in cooperation with the Reichstag, the results of the elections had at most an indirect influence on the chancellorship. Only by October 1918 on the verge of disastrous defeat in the First World War , was the Empire's 1871 constitution changed and reformed after 47 years, to require that the chancellor have the trust / confidence of parliament (as in the British Parliament and other European parliamentary democracies). Some two weeks later, Chancellor Max von Baden declared
25591-547: Was seen as a widening political gap between the US and Europe. Bush stated in his memoirs that Schröder initially promised to support the Iraq war but changed his mind with the upcoming German elections and public opinion strongly against the invasion, to which Schröder responded saying that Bush was "not telling the truth". When asked in March 2003 if he was self-critical about his position on Iraq, Schröder replied, "I very much regret there were excessive statements" from himself and former members of his government (which capitalised on
25754-402: Was set up for the German people by the popularly elected Weimar National Assembly , which met in the historic town of Weimar in 1919/20. According to the Weimar Constitution for the First German Republic (a.k.a. "Weimar Republic", 1919-1933), the chancellor was head of a collegial democratic government. The chancellor was appointed by the new President of Germany (Reich President) , as were
25917-475: Was subsequently defeated in the Bundestag on 1 July 2005 by 151 to 296 (with 148 abstaining), after Schröder urged members not to vote for his government in order to trigger new elections. In response, a grouping of left-wing SPD dissidents and the Party of Democratic Socialism agreed to run on a joint ticket in the general election, with Schröder's rival Oskar Lafontaine leading the new group. The 2005 German federal elections were held on 18 September. After
26080-493: Was summarily rejected as unfounded. The verdict immediately sparked violent protests and expressions of solidarity in the West. The Committee for the Release of Rudolf Bahro organized an international conference, held 16 to 19 November 1978 in West Berlin and attended by over 2,000 participants. The depth of solidarity is illustrated by an appeal to the State Council of the GDR in the Frankfurter Rundschau of 11 May 1979, organized by Bahro Committee in 12 countries and signed by
26243-399: Was translated into other languages. The Alternative sparked debate in the West European left about the nature of socialism. For Herbert Marcuse , Bahro's book was "the most important contribution to Marxist theory and practice that has appeared in recent decades"; a similar view was expressed by the Trotskyist Ernest Mandel . To Lawrence Krader, Bahro was the "conscience of the revolution,
26406-438: Was unhindered, but Bahro was convinced that he would be unable to disseminate his book to the GDR citizenry. In December 1976 he learned that one of his samizdats had fallen into Stasi hands, which prompted him to finish his work quickly. Intermediaries arranged a contract with Europäische Verlagsanstalt, a West German publisher. Swiss musicologist Harry Goldschmidt smuggled the finished manuscript into West Berlin, and copies of
26569-417: Was usually held by the Roman Catholic archbishops of Mainz . The title was, at times, used in several states of German-speaking Central Europe . The modern office of chancellor was established with the beginning of the North German Confederation in 1867, after the Prussian Army 's decisive military victory in the brief Austro-Prussian War of 1866 over the rival Austrian Empire . The office began with
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