Final answer:
The new German Empire formed in 1871 was a constitutional monarchy with significant powers vested in the unelected federal council and the Kaiser, though it also featured a parliament, the Reichstag.
Step-by-step explanation:
The basic political organization of the new German Empire, proclaimed in 1871 following the Prussian victory, was a constitutional monarchy. Wilhelm I became the Kaiser, or Emperor, of the German Reich, with the smaller German kingdoms uniting under this new nation-state. Although a parliament, the Reichstag, was established where all men over 25 could vote for its representatives, real power was in the hands of an unelected federal council and the Kaiser himself. This system, therefore, was more authoritarian and conservative than liberal democratic models found in other Western nations at the time.