| Abstract: | Policymaking in the German federal system is influenced by thedynamic interplay of the institutions of cooperative federalism,of party competition in a parliamentary system, and of distributiveconflicts between governments. This is shown in an analysisof 50 years of German federalism. It is argued that while theinstitutional setting outlived most reform efforts, changingpatterns of party politics and growing distributive conflictsinduced adjustments in intergovernmental relations. Since the1980s, such adjustments have also been stimulated by Europeanpolitics. In unified Germany, intergovernmental cooperationis now burdened with asymmetries between the East and the West,which are also expressed in a more regionalized party system.However, as party political confrontations have diminished,a pragmatic revision of the federal system seems feasible. |
