Federalism and Mass Media Policy in Germany

Abstract

This article deals with the patterns of political change when political institutions are organized according to a logic that runs against the grain of the social structure. In particular, focus is on the federal constitution devised for Germany in 1949 and how the political system moved towards a closer match with the underlying social structure as political actors mobilized in nation-wide terms rather than following the federal demarcations. Despite explicit constitutional clauses which place media under the exclusive jurisdiction of the German Lander, harmonization and standardization eventually led to the 'nationalization' of German mass media. Empirical research shows that political actors differed over the contents of policies, but they shared an all-German frame of reference. This indicates that in federations with non-federal societies, the workings of the system might be more unified than what the de jure federal structure suggests.