Federal Republic of Germany
Describes the origins, development, & operations of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. Founded in 1949 & designed to preclude the possibility of another strong central Germany in the aftermath of World War II, the GDR's federal system is not modeled on the US Constitution, which stresses a separation of powers between governments. Rather, the German Constitution emphasizes mutual linkages, interrelations, & overlaps between centralized & decentralized polities. K. Coddon