Here are two views of the office of the Chancellor, currently Gerhard Schroeder from the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The second is taken from inside the dome atop the Reichstag, the first taken while standing in line to get inside the dome. On the day these pictures were taken, Schroeder made a decision to call a Vertrauensfrage, literally asking for a vote of trust in his government. The issue was Germany making available 3900 troops for the war in Afghanistan. Many in his own party and his coalition partners the Greens were opposed to the war and wanted to vote against German involvement. Schroeder decided he could not effectively lead if his own coalition wouldn't trust him on such an important issue. The German system is one of proportional representation, meaning you vote for a party not a person to govern. That kind of system usually creates a multi-party parliament, meaning that most of the time no single party has a majority to govern alone. The result is a need for coalitions. The German system is also a parliamentary system, which means that the chief executive is the head of the parliament (the US has a Presidential system, which separates power between the executive and the Congress; parliamentary systems don't have that separation of power). The main parties in Germany are the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU), Free Democrats (FDP), Social Democrats (SPD), Democratic Socialists (PDS), and Greens. The governing coalition is SPD-Green, with a very small majority. On Friday November 16th (these photos were taken Tuesday November 13, 2001) the coalition after some intense debate and pressure voted to stay with Schroeder and accept German involvement in the war. The decision was especially hard for the Greens, a party borne of the peace movement with strong pacifist credentials. They decided that it was more important to prove that a Green-Red coalition would work, and many believed that force was indeed necessary in some instances, such as in this case. They also felt they could put pressure on the US to avoid things such as torture and an expanded war which they believe would violate the principles of the West. Note also the construction taking place as the Germans continue to build up their new capital city.