ABSTRACT
Germany's system of cooperative federalism eschews neat divisions of legislative, executive and financial power; instead, the Basic Law enshrines an arrangement in which both orders of government have a clear role to play on most issues. This chapter attempts to identify those factors of German federalism that help to encourage the formation of such agreements. To manage the existing overlap, some of the required coordination occurs through national legislation and the negotiations between the federal government and the Bundesrat, but this is clearly not sufficient to address the level of overlap that is found in Germany. Germany was the originator of the modern Welfare State under the chancellorship of Otto von Bismarck and this policy leadership seems to have continued in the amount the Federal Republic spends on government programs. In many ways, the desire for coordination is infused into not only the institutions of German federalism, but the political culture of the federation itself.
