German Länder enjoy constitutional autonomy. They invoke the prerogative to adopt and change their constitutions at their own discretion. The Federation has no say in these matters. Yet, there is no such thing as ‘constitutionalism’ in the German Länder: Land constitutions remain instruments of government. So far, they failed to turn into ‘charters of self-governance’ (Gardner) that would the people help to pursue happiness or strive for a good life. This discrepancy between constitutional prerogatives and symbolic/political importance finds its cause in the fact that the constitutional autonomy of the Länder is politically entrenched and circumscribed in various ways. In essence this means that the dual character of federalism that structures constitutional politics in the Länder does not fit with German cooperative federalism that mostly shapes ‘normal’ politics in the Federation.

Our 2020 Annual Conference was scheduled to be held at the University of Wrocław in Poland on July 9-11, 2020.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our next Annual Conference will take place from July 8-10, 2021. The conference, "ICON•S Mundo", will be held online. Details regarding the organization of the 2021 Conference will follow soon.
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