Short summary: Germany is a federal republic (Bundesrepublik), that is, it consists of a number of counties or federal states (Länder) that have retained some amount of independence. That means each county has a government (Landesregierung) and a parliament (Landtag) of its own. The government of Germany as a whole is called Bundesregierung, and the parliament is the Bundestag. In general, laws passed on the national level override laws on the county level ("Bundesrecht bricht Landesrecht"). Important areas where each county is very much aunonomous ("Ländersache") and may have different regulations are for example education (Bildung) and maintaining roads etc. The Bundesrat represents each county on a national level. The number of votes each county has depends on the population. There are national laws where both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat have a vote, so such a law must pass both institutions before going into effect. Details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesrat_of_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundestag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landtag

Happy birthday Elif !