“…Karlheinz Niclauß, for example, claims that the ruling of the constitutional court has imbued the German chancellor democracy with constitutional legitimacy. 6 According to this view, Schröder's vote of confidence shifted the balance of power between the parliament and the government in favour of the chancellor and provided the latter with plebiscitary power. In order to bring these issues to the fore I will first describe the chronology of events.…”