The Federal Council: The Secret to the Institutional Success of the German Federal System

The Federal Council: The Secret to the Institutional Success of the German Federal System

Jens WOELK

German federalism is different from “dual” federal systems, such as the United States of America, characterised by parallel federal and state structures. By contrast, in Germany the federal administration is not fully developed: the Länder take care of the implementation of federal legislation as well as of their own in order to avoid costly and inefficient duplication.

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More Than Just Rights – The Basic Law and Its Fundamental Rights Chapter

More Than Just Rights – The Basic Law and Its Fundamental Rights Chapter

Michael GOLDHAMMER

With the enactment of the Basic Law, some of the central debates relating to Weimar Constitutional Law came to an end: the range of emergency competences of the Reichspresident became just as obsolete as the discussions about constitutional amendments and other problems. It is different with fundamental rights, though.

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