Territorial justice in unified Germany: Financial equalization, the Länder and the Federal Constitutional Court

Abstract

Geographers have traditionally been interested in the issue of territorial justice conceived in terms of distributional equality. The German constitution incorporates a concept of financial equalization with the objective of creating equivalent living conditions throughout the federal territory. This primarily involves the redistribution of finance, the regulation of which has been a continual source of conflict. The paper looks at the role of the Federal Constitutional Court in mediating such conflict. The Court is the ‘supreme guardian of the constitution’ and a highly influential policy-making institution within the German political system. Commentators have described a process of the judicialization of politics, with an increasing number of important political decisions being taken by the Court, rather than in Parliament. The decisions of the Court within the sphere of financial equalization are examined in this light. Further, the particular relevance of a geographical perspective in this regard is highlighted.