Federations of the World

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)