This edited volume provides a comprehensive overview of the diverse and multi-faceted research on governance in multilevel systems. The book features a collection of cutting-edge trans-Atlantic contributions, covering topics such as federalism, decentralization as well as various forms and processes of regionalization and Europeanization. While the field of multilevel governance is comparatively young, research in the subject has also come of age as considerable theoretical, conceptual and empirical advances have been achieved since the first influential works were published in the early noughties. The present volume aims to gauge the state-of-the-art in the different research areas as it brings together a selection of original contributions that are united by a variety of configurations, dynamics and mechanisms related to governing in multilevel systems.

This book investigates the politics of federalism reform in Germany which has spanned over more than a decade. Different from reform attempts in other federal countries, the German reform was split up in three distinct steps: an adjustment of legislative powers between the federal and the state level, followed by the introduction of the 'debt brake'; and, finally, the reform of fiscal equalization. Against the background of this sequential reform, this book not only discusses the effects of single reform steps, but also examines the results and inconsistencies of the overall reform process and reconsiders its cumulated effects. The contributions collected in this volume cover a broad range of reform aspects, among them historical aspects, the role of party politics, changes in the legislative process, and the resurgence of joint decision-making. All chapters contribute to the theoretical framework which sheds a fresh view on the dynamics of federalism reforms. The chapters originally published in a special issue of Regional and Federal Studies.

This book investigates the politics of federalism reform in Germany which has spanned over more than a decade. Different from reform attempts in other federal countries, the German reform was split up in three distinct steps: an adjustment of legislative powers between the federal and the state level, followed by the introduction of the 'debt brake'; and, finally, the reform of fiscal equalization. Against the background of this sequential reform, this book not only discusses the effects of single reform steps, but also examines the results and inconsistencies of the overall reform process and reconsiders its cumulated effects. The contributions collected in this volume cover a broad range of reform aspects, among them historical aspects, the role of party politics, changes in the legislative process, and the resurgence of joint decision-making. All chapters contribute to the theoretical framework which sheds a fresh view on the dynamics of federalism reforms. The chapters originally published in a special issue of Regional and Federal Studies.

Mit Ergebnissen empirischer Forschung, die in Kennwerten, Grafiken und Tabellen aufbereitet sind, kritisch und kompetent umgehen zu konnen, ist heute fur Politologinnen und Politologen in Studium und Forschung eine unverzichtbare Voraussetzung. Diese kritische Lesekompetenz wird auch als "Statistical Literacy" bezeichnet. Dieses Buch vermittelt die "Statistical Literacy," indem es die Leser an ein echtes Verstandnis der Annahmen und Vorgehensweisen in der Statistik herangefuhrt. Grosse Teile des Buches sind der Erlauterung und Einubung theoretischer Grundlagen gewidmet, wie der Messtheorie, der Argumentenlogik oder der Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie. Die Idee hinter diesem didaktischen Konzept ist, dass ein Verstandnis dafur, wie und warum bestimmte Ergebnisse zustande kommen, auch die Kritikfahigkeit erhoht. Zugleich ermoglicht ein solches Verstandnis auch, uber die reine Lesefahigkeit hinaus, eigene statistische Auswertungen problemadaquat durchzufuhren. Die beiden Autoren haben dieses Buch aus ihrer eigenen Lehrerfahrung heraus in mehrjahriger Arbeit geschrieben und das didaktische Konzept gezielt fur die Bedurfnisse der Politikwissenschaft entwickelt. Die CD zum Buch erweitert die Moglichkeiten zur autodidaktischen Aneignung der statistischen Verfahren durch eine praxisorientierte Einfuhrung in die Statistik-Software SPSS. Beispiele und vertiefende Exkurse runden das Buch zu einem fundierten und zugleich praxisnahen Lehr- und Nachschlagewerk ab, das fur Studierende und Forschende gleichermassen geeignet ist."