German Federalism from Cooperation to Competition

Abstract

This contribution is about the demise of what has become known as cooperative federalism in Germany. This term is a convenient and apt shorthand for the distinctive features which characterized West German federalism by the mid-1970s: a functional division of competence between federal legislation and Länder administration; the entrenched role of the Bundesrat in the federal legislative process; a commitment to securing consensus among the Länder and between Länder and federation on policy formulation and implementation, which was facilitated by a multitude of coordinating committees; the consequent bureaucratic ‘entanglement’ (Politikverflechtung) of the two levels of government; and the relative marginality of the few remaining exclusive competences still exercised by the Länder and their Landtage; KeywordsFederal SystemFederal LegislationConstitutional FrameworkConstitutional ReformAutonomous PolicyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.