The Pirate Party of Germany, an outgrowth of the larger Pirate Party movement that began in Sweden in 2006, promoted a broadly populist platform that focused on copyright reform and Internet freedom. The Pirate Party used open-source software to facilitate group decision making, a process the party called “liquid democracy.” In essence, the party’s entire platform was subject to electronic referendum by its members. Riding a wave of antiestablishment sentiment, the Pirates scored a string of electoral successes at the state level in 2011–12, winning representation in regional legislatures in Berlin, Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein, and North Rhine–Westphalia. Security
Germany has been a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since May 1955. Until unification West Germany was the only NATO country with territory bordering two members of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet bloc’s anti-Western defense alliance, and NATO strategy was founded on West Germany’s vulnerability to an armed invasion. The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact and the admission of Poland and the Czech Republic to NATO have eased Germany away from this “frontline” status.
The German contribution to the Western defense system takes the form of its combined arm of defense known as the Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr). The German military forces are divided into an army, navy, and air force. From its inception the Federal Armed Forces was envisioned as a citizens’ defense force, decisively under civilian control through the Bundestag, and its officers and soldiers trained to be mindful of the role of the military in a democracy. Conscription for males was universal until July 2011, when the country adopted an all-volunteer force. Germany maintains a separate Coast Guard and Federal Police (Bundespolizei) force.
After unification the former East German People’s Army (Volksarmee) was integrated into the Federal Armed Forces. The special troops who had guarded the Berlin Wall and the boundary with West Germany, together with the factory militia, were disarmed and dissolved. In the 21st century there was much discussion about the future of the German military, particularly regarding the role of the Eurocorps, a pan-European ready-reaction force, and the expansion of the role of German forces in international activities (e.g., the NATO-led war in Afghanistan). As the focus of the armed services shifted from border defense to operations abroad, a massive plan for the reorganization and downsizing of German forces was undertaken. Beginning in 2006, the German military began its transformation into a smaller, all-volunteer force, and cuts were made to reduce spending across all three branches of service. Additionally, the Bundeswehr was restructured into three broad, joint-operations command categories: response forces, designed for high-intensity combat operations; stabilization forces, intended for lower-intensity peacekeeping missions; and support forces—the largest of the three groups—tasked with command, control, logistics, and training.
Germany’s national police force, the Federal Police, handles emergencies outside the jurisdiction of state police forces, such as border control and air and rail security. Law enforcement remains a province primarily reserved to the states, and each state maintains its own police force, which is charged with all phases of enforcement, except where its function is assumed by a municipal force. In the event of a national emergency, the federal government may commandeer the services of various state police units, along with the standby police reserve that is trained and equipped by each state for action during civil emergencies.
The federal government investigates certain actions, particularly those related to the internal security of the state and crimes that transcend state boundaries. National agencies include the Berlin-based Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst; BND), which combats external threats; the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsshutz; BfV), headquartered in Cologne, which compiles information regarding threats posed to security by domestic groups; the Customs Criminological Office (Zollkriminalamt; ZKA), also based in Cologne, which investigates customs violations; and the Federal Criminal Investigation Office (Bundeskriminalamt; BKA), headquartered in Wiesbaden, which provides forensic and research assistance to federal and state agencies investigating crime, as well as coordinating efforts among various state, national, and international police forces. The BfV is noteworthy for tracking the activities of extremist groups and publishing statistics annually, while the BKA has taken on a more prominent counterterrorism role in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
The People’s Police of East Germany was dissolved upon unification, and its members were integrated into the police forces of the new states. The loathed Ministry for State Security (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, popularly known as Stasi) was also dissolved, and its files were removed into Western custody. Health and welfare
Germany’s system of social benefits is among the world’s most elaborate and all-embracing. A pioneer in establishing social welfare benefits, imperial Germany in the 1880s became the first country to provide health and accident insurance, workers’ and employees’ benefits and pensions, and miners’ insurance. (Under German labour law, a categorical distinction is made between hourly wage earners and salaried employees.) Ostensibly, the programs were introduced both to meet the needs of workers and to stem the influence of socialism. The German welfare system has served as a model for similar programs in other countries. Insurance and services
By the end of the 20th century some nine-tenths of the population was covered by statutory (public) health insurance, and the country ranked among the world’s highest in terms of the proportion of health care costs covered by the government—about 90 percent of all incurred costs. Reforms in the early 21st century made health insurance compulsory for all people living in Germany. Although the vast majority of Germans remain covered by the government-sponsored health system, employees above a certain salary level or self-employed persons may decline public insurance and purchase full private insurance that is as comprehensive as the government-sponsored plans. Once an individual opts for private insurance, however, it is difficult to return to the public program. Those participating in a government health scheme also may purchase supplemental private insurance. Contributions to government health insurance, which amount to more than one-tenth of wages or salaries, are shared by employees and employers.
Medical care in Germany is excellent, and even rural areas are well served. Hospitals are usually operated by municipalities or religious organizations or as proprietary institutions owned by one or more physicians. The conquering of tuberculosis, once endemic in Germany but now rarely encountered, was a triumph of the health system. The extensive health care system that operated in East Germany—where universal free health care, medication, child care, nursing, and pensions were funded by an obligatory state insurance system—was reorganized from the exclusive management of the system by the trade unions to alignment with the various employment, health, and retirement insurance systems of western Germany.
Introduced by Otto von Bismarck in the 1880s, Germany’s old-age pension program provided retirement benefits that were funded by a combination of worker, employer, and government contributions. The program became unsustainable as it was structured, however, when longer life expectancies and lower birth rates reduced the worker-to-pensioner ratio in the late 20th century. A series of reforms were undertaken in the early 21st century to reduce the government’s share of the pension load, while preserving existing benefits through additional worker contributions. Tax incentives were provided for workers who chose to invest in private or occupation-based pension plans, and the retirement age was increased to 67. Additional benefits