Multi-Level Polities — Institutions, Decision-Making, Parties and Party Systems

Abstract

This chapter presents the institutional and political background in Spain and Germany. It focuses on four main aspects spread over the same number of sections: the origins and evolution of the multi-level institutional arrangement that led to the different types of federalism; the institutional setting and the decision-making process; the political parties and the party systems at the national and regional levels; and finally, the stakes involved in governing at the regional level.