• alternatives in the Basic Law of the Federal Republic
• art. 23: accession
• art. 146: substitution of new all-Germany constitution
• preparation
• east German elections, government's choice of accession
• dissolution of DDR into 5 constituent states
• accession of those states
• two treaties between FRG and DDR
• monetary, economic and social union (Economic Agreement)
• accession (Unification Agreement)
• application of FRG law, with transition
• repeal of art. 23 of FRG Basic Law

• the Basic Law as law (art. 1(3) on individual rights; art. 20(3) on powers)
• essential principles (see over for texts of arts. 20 and 28)
• Rechtsstaat
• government bound by law
• due process
• proportionality
• Sozialstaat
• democracy
• fundamental rights and government encroachment on them (art. 19)
• amendment process

• parliamentary democracy, strong chancellor (prime minister), largely ceremonial presidency (but used as a bully pulpit by a few presidents like Richard von Weiszäcker)
• legislative branch: Bundestag (Federal Assembly) and Bundesrat (Federal Council)
• federal constitutional court and basic rights: procedures for adjudication
• federalism and the role of the Länder: Atomic Weapons Referenda Case p. 563

(1) The Federal Republic of Germany is a democratic and social federal state.
(2) All state authority emanates from the people. It is being exercised by the people through elections and voting and by specific organs of the legislature, the executive power, and the judiciary.
(3) Legislation is subject to the constitutional order; the executive and the judiciary are bound by law and justice.
(4) All Germans have the right to resist any person seeking to abolish this constitutional order, should no other remedy be possible.

Article 28 [Guarantee of self-government]

(1) The constitutional order in the States must conform to the principles of the republican, democratic, and social state under the rule of law, within the meaning of this Constitution. In each of the States, counties, and communes, the people has to be represented by a body chosen in general, direct, free, equal, and secret elections. During elections in counties and communes, persons who possess the citizenship of a European Community country are eligible to vote and being elected according to the laws of the European Community. In communes, the communal assembly can take the place of an elected body.
(2) The communes must be guaranteed the right to regulate, on their own responsibility, all the affairs of the local community within the limits set by statute. Within the framework of their statutory functions, the associations of communes have such right of self-government as may be provided by statute. The right of self-government also encompasses the foundations of financial accountability.
(3) The Federation ensures that the constitutional order of the States conforms to the basic rights and to the provisions of Paragraphs (1) & (2).