Federation Maps and Fact Sheets

Germany
Federalism in Germany dates back to 1867
Current Federal Constitution adopted in 1949
Official Website of the federal government of Germany

Constituent units

• 16 states (Länder): Baden-Württemberg; Bavaria; Brandenburg; Hesse; Lower Saxony; Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania; North Rhine-Westphalia; Rhineland-Palatinate; Saarland; Saxony; Saxony-Anhalt; Schleswig-Holstein; Thuringia and the city-states of Berlin; Bremen; Hamburg.
  • Map of the states
  • Information on the federal states
  • Official Website of federal state governements.

Constitutional distribution of powers

• The Basic Law (Constitution), in particular:
  • The Federation and the States (Art. 23, 24, 28- 34, 37)
  • Federal Legislative Powers (Art. 70-75 and 79)
  • Execution of Statutes and Federal Administration (Art. 83 and 91)
  • Joint Tasks (Art. 91a and 91b)
    (Source of the English translation: German Law Archives)

Legislative institutions

• Federal: Bicameral parliament composed of the Federal Council (Bundesrat) and the Parliamentary Assembly (Bundestag). The Federal Council (Bundesrat) represents the 16 states; it is composed of delegates from the state legislatures, the number of delegates varying according to the size of the population of each state.
  • Official Website of the Bundesrat
  • Official Website of theBundestag

• States: Most of the states have unicameral legislatures
  • Official Website of federal state legislatures (from state government votes).

Official language:  German

Other links of interest

• Federalism and self-government
• History up to 1945 and past 1945
• Fact sheet on the Basic Law
• Federations magazine (Forum of Federations), notably;
• German federalism at the crossroads, Vol. 3, No. 3, p. 13 / August 2003 (PDF)
• The German Constitutional Court takes on the principle of 'solidarity', Vol. 1, No. 3 / March 2001 (PDF)