Ten Years of Federalism Reform in Germany ― Dynamics and Effects of Institutional Development

This book investigates the politics of federalism reform in Germany which has spanned over more than a decade. Different from reform attempts in other federal countries, the German reform was split up in three distinct steps: an adjustment of legislative powers between the federal and the state level, followed by the introduction of the ‘debt brake’, and, finally, the reform of fiscal equalization. Against the background of this sequential reform, this book not only discusses the effects of single reform steps, but also examines the results and inconsistencies of the overall reform process and reconsiders its cumulated effects. The contributions collected in this book cover a broad range of reform aspects, among them historical aspects, the role of party politics, changes in the legislative process, and the resurgence of joint decision-making. All chapters contribute to the theoretical framework which sheds a fresh view on the dynamics of federalism reforms. The chapters were originally published in a special issue of Regional and Federal Studies.

Nathalie Behnke leads the working group on Public Administration at the Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz, Germany. In her research, she focuses on aspects of multi-level coordination, fiscal federalism and bureaucratic politics.

Sabine Kropp holds the chair for German Politics at the Otto Suhr Institute, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany. Her research interests cover various aspects of comparative federalism, governance and public administration.