This book offers a concise and comprehensive overview of the Federal Republic of Germany post 1945. The chapters will enable students to understand how Germany's political institutions work, their strengths and weaknesses and the relationship between institutions and the political process.About the Author: Manfred Schmidt is Professor in Political Science at the University of Heidelberg. He was previously Professor in Political Science at the Centre for Social Policy Research in Bremen. He has written widely on comparative public policy and politics in Germany and was the winner of the Leibniz-Preis of the German Research Foundation in 1995.