27. Germany is …

Answer options

1. a socialist state.
2. a federal state.
3. a dictatorship.
4. a monarchy.

Explanation

Under Article 20(1) of the Basic Law, the Federal Republic of Germany is a democratic and social federal state; “federal state” denotes vertical separation of powers between the Federation and the Länder (Arts. 30, 70 et seq. GG) with Länder participation in the Bundesrat (Art. 50 GG). The social-state principle does not mean a socialist economic system, but obliges the state and legislature to provide social security and redistribution while maintaining private property and a market economy (Art. 14 GG; cf. Art. 15 GG as an exception). Monarchy ended with the November Revolution of 1918 and the Weimar Constitution of 1919, and dictatorship is incompatible with the Basic Law’s militant democracy (FDGO), including party bans and the eternity clause (Art. 21(2), Art. 79(3) GG).