Federal Power-Sharing in Europe

Cover -- Part 1: Federal States -- Austria: Federal Politics within and beyond the Constitutional Frame -- I. Introduction -- II. The making of the Austrian federation -- III. Distribution of competences between restriction and compensation -- A. Flexible constitution -- B. A party-oriented form of federalism -- C. Executive federalism -- IV. Substate autonomy as opposed to federal state power -- A. Subnational scope for action -- B. Intergovernmental coordination: Land governors as veto players in the federal system -- V. Federal relations between persistence and need for reform -- A. Selected policy fields -- 1. Public education -- 2. Healthcare policy -- 3. Finance relations -- B. Land governors: Interests and logic of action -- C. The federal system in need of reform -- VI. The prospects of Austria's real federalism -- Federalism and Decentralisation in Switzerland -- I. Introduction -- II. Vertical power-sharing in Switzerland -- A. Away from the minimal state (1848-1918) … -- B. … towards the welfare state (1919-2008) -- C. Current division of power and institutional safeguards -- III. The federal reform of 2008 -- A. Precursors -- B. The federal reform of 2008 -- IV. Selected policy areas -- A. Highways: newly centralised-or not? -- B. Special schools: newly cantonalised-or not? -- V. Conclusion -- The Länder Lose Out. Competence Sharing in German Federalism -- I. How Competences are allocated in Germany -- A. Cooperative federalism and the dominant role of consensus in German politics -- B. The powers of the federal level and the Länder -- 1. Tax policies as a precondition for and consequence of centralised competence -- 2. Financial support as a steering mechanism -- C. The responsibilities of the German Länder -- 1. Radio and TV -- 2. Economic policies of the Länder -- 3. Technology transfer -- 4. The lottery monopoly