"Political cohesion under conditions of fiscal scarcity – German federalism in the time of COVID-19"

COVID-19 has posed serious challenges to social and political cohesion in societies across the globe. Federal systems, where multiple levels of government are involved in efforts to control the spread of the virus, face particular difficulties when it comes to coordinating coherent responses. Coping with the crisis requires both a holistic response and tailor-made regional and local measures. This project investigates how German federalism has been managing the containment of the virus, and how it is managing fiscal scarcity caused by the extensive support packages.

Focusing in on the German case, which serves as a prime example of cooperative federalism, this research proposal answers the following questions: How do governments at both federal levels employ the institutions of cooperative federalism in times of crisis? More specifically: To what extent do incumbents adopt opportunistic strategies in federal negotiations? How do they legitimate these strategies in public discourses? Which safeguards are needed to make federal democracy more resilient?

Against the background of increasing conflict, this project will review prevalent assumptions about the latent dysfunctionalities of federalism. Since federal elections and five Länder elections were held in 2021, this year offers a unique opportunity to explore the problem of opportunism inherent to federal systems. For the empirical analysis, we have developed a new dataset, currently consisting of 4,610 manually coded statements. These statements were gathered trough a qualitative content analysis of plenary debates in the German state parliaments (Landtage) and in the Bundestag between February 2020 and the federal election in September 2021. 

Publications

• Souris, Antonios, Sabine Kropp & Christoph Nguyen (2023): Attributing blame: how political parties in Germany leverage cooperative federalism. In: West European Politics, online first. Available here.
• Kropp, Sabine, Christoph Nguyen & Antonios Souris (2022). Zusammenhalt im Bundesstaat. Bundesfreundliche und opportunistische Argumentationsstrategien in der Pandemie. In: dms – der moderne staat – Zeitschrift für Public Policy, Recht und Management, 15(1-2022), 20-41. Open Access - available here.
• Kropp, Sabine, Christoph Nguyen & Antonios Souris (2022). Prägt Opportunismus das föderale System? Herausforderungen des „bundesfreundlichen Verhaltens“ in der Corona-Krise. In: Wolfgang Muno, Christoph Wagner, Christoph Mohamad-Klotzbach, Thomas Kestler (Hrsg.): Staat, Rechtsstaat und Demokratie. Wiesbaden: Springer, 41-67. Available here. 
• Kropp, Sabine & Johanna Schnabel (2022). Germany’s Response to COVID-19: Federal Coordination and Executive Politics, in: Rupak Chattopadhyay, Felix Knüpling, Diana Chebenova, Liam Whittington, Phillip Gonzalez (eds): Federalism and the Response to COVID-19. A Comparative Analysis. Abingdon: Routledge, 84-94. Open Access - available here.
• Kropp, Sabine (2020). Zerreißprobe für den Flickenteppich? Der deutsche Föderalismus in Zeiten von Covid-19. VerfassungsBlog, 26 May 2020. Open Access - available here.

Dataset

Kropp, Sabine, Antonios Souris & Christoph Nguyen (2023). Discursive strategies of political parties in German federalism during Covid-19. Datenfile Version 1.0.0. GESIS SowiDataNet|datorium. Open Access - available here.

Work in Progress

• Souris, Antonios, Sabine Kropp, Christoph Nguyen: "The Resilience of Federal Institutions in Times of Crisis – Evidence from Germany during the Covid-19 Pandemic."

Policy Brief

• Kropp, Sabine, Christoph Nguyen & Antonios Souris (2022): Landesparlamente in der COVID-19-Krise - Weder untätig noch abgehängt. Open Access - available here.

Prof. Sabine Kropp presented the key findings and recommendations of the policy brief on the annual 'Conference of the Presidents of the Länder Parliaments, the Bundestag, and the Bundesrat' in Bremen on 21 June 2022.

Presentations

• Kropp, Sabine: “Conflicting Incentives: How German Political Parties Employ Cooperative Federalism in Times of Crisis”. Public Lecture, University of Ottawa, Centre on Governance, October 16, 2023.
• Souris, Antonios: "Laboratories of Democracy in Times of Crisis: Federalism and Policy Learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Germany." IPSA, Buenos Aires, 15-19 July 2023.
• Kropp, Sabine, Antonios Souris & Christoph Nguyen: “The Resilience of Federal Institutions in Times of Crisis  – Evidence from Germany during the Covid-19 Pandemic.” MPSA Annual Conference, Chicago, 13-16 April 2023.
• Kropp, Sabine, Antonios Souris & Christoph Nguyen: “The Resilience of Federal Institutions in Times of Crisis  – Evidence from Germany during the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Workshop, Themengruppe "Föderalismus" (DVPW), 24-25 February 2023.
• Kropp, Sabine, Antonios Souris: "Political cohesion under conditions of fiscal scarcity – German federalism in the time of COVID-19." Conference "Corona Crisis and Beyond - Perspectives for Science, Scholarship and Society", VolkswagenStiftung. Hanover, 5-7 December 2022.
• Souris, Antonios: "Promises and Pitfalls of Translating Political Texts into Data." Poster Presentation at the Research Data Day 2022,  Freie Universität Berlin, 27 October 2022. Available here.
• Kropp, Sabine & Antonios Souris: "Shifting the Blame: Federalism and Party Competition in Parliamentary Debates during the Covid-19 Crisis". Zweijahrestagung, DVPW Themengruppe "Vergleichende Parlamentarismusforschung", 6 and 7 October 2022.
• Kropp, Sabine: "Shifting the blame: cooperative federalism and party competition during the Covid-19 crisis in Germany". CONSTRESS workshop, Princeton University, 30 September and 1 October 2022.
• Souris, Antonios: "Blame Games im föderalen Bundesstaat - neue Erkenntnisse aus der Corona-Pandemie". KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 29 June 2022.
• Kropp, Sabine: "Landesparlamente in der COVID-19-Krise - Weder untätig noch abgehängt". Konferenz der Präsident:innen der deutschen Landesparlamente, des Deutschen Bundestages und des Bundesrates, Bremen, 21 June 2022.
• Souris, Antonios: "Blame Games and Party Competition in Federal Systems: Evidence from Germany in the Covid-19 crisis". Statuskonferenz Social Cohesion 2022, Berlin University Alliance, 20 May 2022.
• Kropp, Sabine & Antonios Souris: "Coming together or drifting apart? German federalism in times of crisis". Statuskonferenz Social Cohesion 2022, Berlin University Alliance, 19 May 2022.
• Kropp, Sabine, Christoph Nguyen & Antonios Souris: "Kooperativer Föderalismus und politische Kommunikation in der Covid-19-Krise." Landesvertretung Schleswig Holstein, Berlin, 28 April 2022.
• Kropp, Sabine, Christoph Nguyen & Antonios Souris: "Blame Games in der 'Mehrebenen-Koalitionspolitik' - Erkenntnisse aus der Corona-Pandemie." Conference, Sektion "Regierungssystem und Regieren in der BRD" (DVPW) and Schader-Stiftung, 30 and 31 March 2022.
• Kropp, Sabine, Christoph Nguyen & Antonios Souris: "Kooperativer Föderalismus und politische Kommunikation in der Covid-19-Krise." Workshop, Themengruppe "Föderalismus" (DVPW), 24 March 2022.
• Souris, Antonios:  "How to design a robust federation". Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 18 March 2022.
• Kropp, Sabine, Christoph Nguyen & Antonios Souris: "Politische Kohäsion im Bundesstaat: Parlamente und Parteien in der Pandemie". Workshop, Special Issue "der moderne Staat" (dms), 10 and 11 June 2021. 
• Kropp, Sabine & Antonios Souris: "Zusammenhalt im Bundesstaat? Bundesfreundliche und opportunistische Argumentationsstrategien in der Pandemie". Laws of Social Cohesion Retreat, Berlin University Alliance, 26 November 2021. 

Media

• Interview with Prof. Sabine Kropp, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, 28 November 2020 - online available here.
• Interview with Prof. Sabine Kropp, Tagesthemen, 9 April 2021 - online available here.
• Interview with Prof. Sabine Kropp, Interview with Tagesschau, 11 August 2021.

BA-/MA-Theses:

• Wessels, Marek (2022): Das Diskussionsverhalten der Oppositionsparteien in der Coronapandemie. Untersuchung des Verlaufs der Stimmung im 19. Deutschen Bundestag. Bachelorarbeit, Berlin: FU Berlin.
• Paillette-Liettilä, Akseli (2022): Rhetorik der Opposition: Argumentationsmuster der Oppositionspartien in Landesparlamenten in der Coronakrise. Masterarbeit, Berlin: FU Berlin.
• Lamour, Eliane (2021). Parlamentsbeteiligung bei Corona-Verordnungen. Eine Analyse parlamentarischer Debatten und Initiativen in den Landesparlamenten in der „Stunde der Exekutive“. Masterarbeit, Berlin: FU Berlin - online available here.

Teaching

• X-Student Research Group at Berlin University Alliance: Parliaments during the Covid-19-Crisis

The final report is available here.