In federal states, powers and responsibilities are distributed to two levels of government (a federal government and several constituent units). Due to their institutional complexity, federal states are expected to be less effective in managing crises, be they economic, financial, or public health crises. However, federations handled the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 Pandemic in quite different ways, depending on their institutional arrangements, the constitutional allocation of powers and responsibilities, the policymaking process, and their political and economic situation. In some federations, governments coordinated the crisis management smoothly and effectively. Others experienced coordination problems. This seminar examines the main challenges federations face in dealing with crises and examines the differences in the way federations handled the Global Financial Crisis (2007/08) and the COVID-19 Pandemic, focusing on mainly but not only Western federations. The first part of the course concentrates on the Global Financial Crisis. The second part examines federations’ handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic. In the third part, we will discuss federations in which the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 Pandemic overlapped with ongoing political crises.

Learning objectives:

- Understanding of federalism and knowledge on the functioning of federal states.

- Understanding of the way differences in institutional design shape policymaking in federal systems.

- Critical thinking about the way federations address policy problems in times of crisis.

- Ability to communicate complex topics in a concise way