Hamburg - It's hotels and it's politics

Hamburg is a great German city that is home to about 1.8 million people, in fact it is the second biggest city in Germany after Berlin. It is a port city with the second biggest port in Europe after Rotterdam and the ninth largest port in the entire world. The full title of Hamburg is the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg, and it acts as its own state in the Federal Republic of Germany. Hamburg has a well developed political, legal and economic system and a great number of industries are represented within the city boundaries. Tourism is one such industry that has developed strongly over the years and there are a number of great hotels that cater for this industry as well as for a strong local market.

In the great European city of Hamburg the government is divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches. This level of separation between distinct political areas is a common thread in modern democratic systems, and Hamburg is no exception to this rule. The executive part of the government is involved in enforcing the laws, the Legislative part of the government has the power to create and amend laws and the Judiciary is involved with the interpretation of law through a system of courts and judges.

The constitution of Germany, which is referred to as the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, is applied to Hamburg along with a more local constitution of the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg. Hamburg is a republic, a democratic welfare state and a constitutional state that is actually its own municipality. The parliament of Hamburg is called the Burgerschaft and is elected by the citizens of Hamburg every four years.

There are a number of political parties who contest these elections every four years with the largest being the Christian Democratic Union, the Social Democratic Party, the Alliance 90/the greens and the Left. Of these the first two have the majority of influence and between them account for over three quarters of the vote. This creates a majority two party system that is common in many democratic nations around the world. The economy of Hamburg is strong with the largest per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in Germany as well as the highest employment rate. Since the reunification of Germany, tourism has become more popular in Hamburg with many Hamburg sightseeing businesses operating successfully.