Föderalismus in historisch vergleichender Perspektive

This book thematises the workings and development of federalism in the German Empire from various perspectives. Its first chapter, ‘Regieren im Wandel’ (Ruling during Change), presents a research project on this subject conducted by the DFG (the central self-governing research funding organisation in Germany). The second chapter, ‘Wirtschaftspolitischer Föderalismus’, focuses on economic federalism, which constituted a key component of legislative activity in politics in the German Empire. The chapter entitled ‘Föderalismus von unten’ examines federalism from the bottom up: using case studies on Germany’s individual federal states, it endeavours to examine the diverse forms of federal interdependence, which is supplemented with a comparison in the chapter entitled ‘Föderalismus von unten in Österreich-Ungarn’ (Federalism from the bottom up in Austria-Hungary). The book ends by outlining the biographies of the various creators of German federalism, that is, those from the middle and upper echelons of the authorities who played an important role in shaping federal structures and processes.