在德國多層級聯邦體制和單一選區兩票聯立制(Mixed-member pro-portional representation, MMP)作用下，聯邦眾議院(Bundestag)與邦議會(Landtag)選舉，常因不同層級間之政治連結(Politikverflechtung)，形成相互影響的關係。故選民常將聯邦政府的執政效能，在邦議會選舉中直接歸責於執政黨在邦層級對應的參選政黨，而邦議會選舉因此也被視為「測試性選舉」(Testwahl)。依「次級選舉」(The..

Under the influence of the German multi-level federal system and mixed- member proportional representation (MMP), the Bundestag (the Federal Parliament) and the Landtag (the Representative Assembly) elections often form interrelated and interactive relations due to the political connections (Politikverflechtung) characteristic of different government levels. Therefore, in an ongoing Landtag election, voters often directly attribute the federal government’s ruling efficiency to the ruling party’s standing counterpa..

德國地方政府的行政區域重劃源自十九世紀末，甚至更早以前，不過，實施的範圍有限，而且主要集中在工業發達的魯爾區(Ruhrgebiet)。一直到 1960 年代因為社會變遷、經濟蓬勃發展，機動性的提高，人民對地方政府的要求不斷提高，而地方政府卻因為規模太小、行政能力薄弱，難以滿足人民的需求。而另一方面，由於地方自治的實質內容減少，地方自治的意義不斷被質疑，於是為了強化地方政府的治理能力、提升地方政府的行政能力和效率以及落實地方自治的精神，德國各邦政府從 1960..

The territorial reform in Germany at the local government level began in the end of the 19th century or even earlier. But the scale and the scope of its implementation was very limited and happened in the majority of cases in the Ruhr area. During the 1960s, the social situation had changed greatly, the economy boomed, and the mobility increased; the demand of people for local government had gradually enhanced on the one hand, but the real substance of self-administration had evidently reduced, so that the meaning of self- ad..

作為德國歷史上的第一個民主政體─威瑪共和從誕生開始就是一個「生病的民主」，也是一個「沒有民主人的民主」。威瑪憲法的制定者除了架構起所謂的「程序性民主」之外，同時更在議會制的基礎上賦予民選的總統強大的權力─半總統制，加上欠缺民主文化，以及存在著反體制的政黨，致令威瑪憲法像是特洛伊木馬。最後在議會政治失敗的亂局中，希特勒(Adolf Hitler)率領納粹黨徒從木馬中一躍而出，用原本是保護民主的權力將民主政體合法地謀殺掉。 二戰後的聯邦德國..

As the first democracy in German history, the Weimar Republic was “a sick democracy”, and “a democracy without democrats” ever since it was born. The composers of the Weimar Constitution not only constructed a so-called “procedural democracy”, but also gave the extreme power to the people-elected president – semi-presidentialism – based on the foundation of parliamentary system. Furthermore, accompanied with a political climate that lacked democratic culture and existing parties..