Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Group Evaluation


FDP Group Project

 

Working on this group project was a fairly fun project. It was rather hard to do considering the group size though. Working with such a large group was difficult to do in such a short notice because of having to find a time for every group member to get together. This was a goal that we were not able to fully achieve. Having so little free time for everyone to get together forced us to meet more than one time; the second time being the day that the project was due. Only after we were finished working on our project, did I think it was appropriate to do this part. Having class immediately after and all the way up to this class gave me no time to work on this. It was for this reason that I believe many people, including I, were not able to have this part of the project done and posted in time.

Having had that said, working on the FDP gave me an insight on how the government works in Germany. There was a lot of extra searching that had to be done to be able to understand what it was that we were learning about our own party. It’s interesting to see such a small political party that has a fairly important role. Being a “kingmaker” party makes them an important party for other parties. In our research we found that the FDP has been in a constant struggle to keep enough votes to stay in parliament. As a constantly struggling party it was interesting to find some of the ways, in the past and even in very recent months, that they have attempted to reach out to get votes.

If I were a voting person, I do not know if I would choose to vote for the FDP. The party isn’t focused on who I am, a construction-worker-type. Also, as a party that is constantly struggling for more votes, I am not sure if I can always count on a party that goes to such lengths to get votes. Having a soon to be political leader be on a tv show or holding “skeptical” meetings just to get more votes doesn’t seem like a party I would put my faith in.

FDP

(1)

"As much government as necessary, as little government as possible," (2)

Overview

  • Histroy
  • major events
  • current standing

History

  • Theodor Heuss first chairman 1948
  • Heuss was first president of federal republic of germany from 1949-1959
  • free democratic party is a centrist german party that advocate individualism, captialism and social reform.
  • It was established in December 1948 at a conference attended by delegates from liberal parties in American, British and French zone occupation.
  • Formed from nine regionally organized parties: BDV, DemP, DP, DVP (Northern Württemberg-Baden), DVP (Southern Württemberg-Hohenzollern), FDP from the Brtitish Zone of Occupation and The Free State of Bavaria and the LDP from the State of Hesse and Berlin West.

Major events

  • 1970 to 1990s Hans-Dietrich Genscher led the fdp as the forgein minister of germany
  • During the 2002 elections, Juergen Moellemann published an anti-Semitic pamphlet and was forced to leave the FDP before commiting suicide in 2003.
  • Guido Westerwelle 2009 best result in federal election and second-longest serving chairman
  • 2009 party support collapses (dropped to as low as 5%)
  • 2011 Guido Westerwelle stepped down after party was wiped out in select states.

Guido Westerwelle(3)

Phillipp Rosler(4)



Current Standing

  • Guido had to step down from vice-chancelor in 2011 due to being unable to lower taxes as promised in 2009 election
  • Phillipp Rosler succeeded Guido as chairman of FDP and vice-chancelor in May 2011
  • "kingmaker"
Fun Facts

  • Guido on Big Brother germany in early 2000s
  • Guido first openly gay vice-chancelor and foreign minister


References

1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FDP-Logo_2011.svg, 17 Sep 12
2.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Democratic_Party_(Germany), 17 Sep 12
3.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Guido_Westerwelle_(Foreign_ministry_in_Stockholm,_2010).jpg, 19 Sep 12
4.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roesler-klein.jpg, 19 Sep 12

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Saxony-Anhalt Group Project

1. Saxony-Anhalt

1.1 Saxony-Anhalt is bordered by Brandenburg in the nottheast, Saxony and Thuringia in the south and Lower Saxony in the northwest.
It has a population of 2.34 million people, as of 2010.
Anhalt's size is 20,445 sq. km

1.2 Anhalt's economy nearly collapsed in 1990. Since then, their economy has transformed into a modern market economy. Today, Saxony-Anhalt has the lowest rate of unemployment throuighout Germany.
The main industrial sources of revenue in Saxony-Anhalt are: Chemical plants, wind farms, and farming, due to their extremely abundent soil.
Saxony-Anhalt has numerous trade partners around the woeld, due to their dealings with chemical plants and farming.


1.3 Saxony-Anhalt offers a unique geography. There are vast plains, tall mountains, numberous vinyards, and also rural and metropolitain cities.
The biggest cities are: Magdeburg, which is the capital city, and Halle.
Some smaller cities are: Altmark, and its bordering cities.

1.5 Saxony-Anhalt joined the federal republic in the year 1990. Before 1948, Anhalt was ruled by the US Army, as well as the Soviet Union.
Saxony-Anhalt was named after Anhalt Castle, which is near Hazgerode. The origins of the naming of the castle remain unknown.

2. Saxony-Anhalt offers a very old fashioned and unique architecture. There are old cathedrals and monuments which use a more Gothic type of architecture.The Cathedral of Magdeburg, and the market places of both Halle and Wittenburg were among the most impressive looking building structures that I found.
One thing that I found interesting about their local customs is their religion. The religion is mainly Luthern, but under a Communist rule. Due to this rule, more people are leaving churches rather than attending them. As of 2010, over 80% of the population no longer attended church in Saxony-Anhalt.
The most famous person from Anhalt, is Martin Luther. Mathin Luther founded the Luthern belief, which he based off of Christianity.
Hugo Junkers is also another famous man from Anhalt.

3. The resources used in this blog were: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LandkreiseSachsenAnhalt2007.png
www.sachsen-anhalt.de/index.phd?id=21182
www.citypopulation.de/Deutschland-Sachsen-Anhalt.html