Explaining Constitutional Politics in the German Länder

In the German Länder there are varying patterns of constitutional politics. But why do these patterns vary? The German Länder belong to the very same federal framework which shows strong tendencies towards homogeneity. In addition, parties and party systems in the Länder pretty much mimic those at the federal level. The paper seeks to solve this puzzle. It observes that sub-national constitutional politics in the Länder is not just a reaction to constitutional developments at the national level. Instead, it rather refers to non-federal issues and represents perceptions and negotiations mostly regionally shaped and determined. Because of these features, it does not challenge the applicability of the federal constitution but rather helps to stabilize the system as a whole by enabling the political actors to find individual constitutional solutions below the level of federal regulation and thus filling integration gaps at the federal level.