Professor of Contemporary European History, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
September 30, 2015
12:15pm - 1:45pm
Hoffmann Room, Adolphus Busch Hall
Practices and notions of democracy seem to change constantly within the history of West German federalism. Between 1949 and 2008, we trace various concepts of democratic legitimacy in West Germany and later in the reunited Germany. Each time federalism related differently to democracy. Which institutions and mechanisms favored the formation of compromise? How did federal consensus-building change democratic practices?