Die Landesministerkonferenzen und der Bund – Kooperativer Föderalismus im Schatten der Politikverflechtung

Abstract

The Conferences of the Ministers of the German 'Länder' and the Federal Level-Cooperative Federalism in the shadow of 'Politikverfl echtung' Abstract: The Conferences of the Ministers of the German 'Länder' (LMKen) are classifi ed as horizontal coordination bodies in cooperative federalism, although the federal level is known to be involved in their negotiations. Our paper investigates conditions and extent of federal in volvement in order to come to a more precise understanding of the conferences' role in German federalism. An analysis of resolutions of the LMK proceedings shows that federal involvement is far higher than theoretically expected. The LMKen serve not primarily as a shield against federal interference, but rather to coordinate and infl uence federal decision-making. The combination of obligatory negotiations (Politikverfl echtung) and voluntary coordination (co-operative federalism) promotes fl exible yet committing decisions thus avoiding decision deadlocks.

Explaining Intergovernmental Coordination during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Responses in Australia, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland

“…Councils in Switzerland are all horizontal institutions—their membership does not include the federal government ( Bochsler and Sciarini 2006 ; Schnabel and Mueller 2017 ). Canada and Germany each have a mixture of vertical and horizontal councils ( Adam, Bergeron, and Bonnard 2015 ; Benz 2009a ; Gauvin and Papillon 2020 ; Hegele and Behnke 2013 ).…”

Governance under the Covid-19 pandemic: comparative perspectives on Germany and Hungary

“…The MPK is a top-level consultative mechanism between the regional heads of government on common strategic issues for the Länder, often also as a platform for the coordination of policy positions towards the federal government. As such the LMKs and the MPK represent the “third level” of voluntary policy coordination between the regions beyond their formal interaction in the legislative process in the Bundesrat (Hegele and Behnke 2013 , p. 22–23). These have become even more important since the reunification of Germany in 1990, which increased the number of Länder in the unified German state from 11 to 16.…”

On Track or Off The Rails?

“…More prominent, especially in the context of Germany, is the discussion of interdependence in decision-making (Scharpf et al 1976;Kropp 2010;Benz et al 2016). In this context, aspects of voluntary coordination between the levels have gained attention as well (Hegele and Behnke 2013).…”