Imperial Chancellor of Germany (In the Victor's Crown)

The German Imperial Chancellor is the Head of Government for the Third German Empire. Formerly a one-man-cabinet, the has since evolved into the leader of said cabinet and a fairly influential one, too. The office was created in 1867 for the North German Confederation, was expanded to the German Empire in 1871 and finally reformed into what is essentially the modern Chancellor's office in the June Constitution of 1928. According to said constitution, the Imperial Chancellor is appointed by the decree of the Emperor at the same time as the Reichstag is elected, and must face a vote of confident in the Reichstag two weeks after that. One must have had a career in a local German government before applying for the position of Chancellor. The office is renewable by the same vote of confidence every five years.

One of the most unusual traits of the German Chancellor is that he is supposed to be non-partisan. In practice, this is reflected by the fact that when the Emperor appoints the Chancellor, he appoints them based on administrative and governing efficiency, not the majority Reichstag coalition, and the Reichstag traditionally acquiesces as long as the Chancellor is likely to perform efficiently.

Duties and functions

 * The Chancellor appoints the German Imperial Cabinet. He and he alone can dismiss or appoint them at will. The Chancellor is therefore at least indirectly responsible for the government policy in its entirety for the next 5 to 20 years (could be more theoretically, but come on) once appointed. Current Chancellor Westerwelle presides over a cabinet of 14 people including himself.


 * The Chancellor can issue US President-style Executive Orders, a power he shares with the Kaiser. The monarch can suppress a Chancellor's Order, however, but he typically only does so if the Order is, in the words of former Kaiser Frederick IV, "really stupid".


 * The Chancellor sits on the Imperial Security Council.

Removal
For such a powerful and imposing political figure, the Chancellor is actually quite easy to remove: All that is required is a vote of no confidence from the Reichstag's side, or a decree coming from the Emperor. A new Chancellor is then sought out immediately. This has happened three times before, and the job usually went to one of the other applicants for the office.