This master's thesis aims to expand the state of research by examining federal-state cooperation in the context of international DC. To this end, the policy field will first be described in terms of its institutional structure. Multi-level governance research as a sub- discipline of political science serves as the theoretical basis for classifying the system. Furthermore, the discussion of governance forms, as well as their opportunities and risks, serves as an in-depth description of the relationships between the actors of the system. To contextualise the framework, the theory of federalism is used. In this way, the influence of the prevailing political system can be considered. The FSP is used as a case study so that the impact of federal-state cooperation on state DC can be determined. At the time of this research report, no evaluation reports of the FSP exist. It is important to mention that the entire multi-level system is examined so that a possible conceptual deficiency can be counteracted, and no analytical gap arises.
The focus of the paper is thus on the following question: To what extent does the multi-level system influence the performance of state development cooperation in the Federal Republic of Germany?
The policy field of Development cooperation in Germany is subject to constant review of projects, with system-oriented studies on the decentralisation of the multi-level system being conducted in addition to content-specific impact studies. In this context, Groß analyses the impact of the multi-stakeholder approach, which is enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals. The results show that the inclusion of all relevant stakeholders from politics, civil society and the private sector has a positive impact on the effectiveness and sustainability of decentralisation forms. The study underlines the importance of integrating all actors in a multi-level system. Consequently, it is noticeable that the state of research on federal-state cooperation in German DC is limited. Bohnet et al. discuss the structure of German DC in 2018. While the federal ministries involved are considered in detail, the representation of the federal states can be classified as marginal. Herrmanns examines the challenges of the German DC to be able to make recommendations for action for more efficiency.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Research Objective
1.2 Structure and Procedure
2 Theoretical backgrounds
2.1 Multi- level Governance
2.1.1 Types of Multi- level Governance
2.1.2 Coordination Mechanisms
2.1.3 Coordination Dilemma
2.1.4 Analysis Tool: Performance Indicator
2.2 The Federal System of the Federal Republic of Germany
2.2.1 Institutional Framework
2.2.2 Vertical and horizontal cooperation
2.2.2.1 Vertical cooperation
2.2.2.2 Horizontal cooperation
2.2.3 Policy linkage
2.2.3.1 Joint tasks and mixed financing
2.2.3.2 Ministerial conferences and administrative cooperation
2.3 Multi- Level Development Cooperation in Germany
2.3.1 Development Cooperation in Germany
2.3.2 Institutional Mapping of governmental Development Cooperation
2.3.2.1 Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
2.3.2.2 The Society for International Cooperation
2.3.2.3 Reconstruction Loan Corporation
2.3.3 Case study: Federal- State- Program
2.3.4 Policy linkages in Development Cooperation
2.3.4.1 Joint tasks and mixed financing
2.3.4.2 Ministerial conferences and administrative cooperation
3 Methodology
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Research Goal
3.3 Data collection
3.3.1 Guided expert interviews
3.3.2 Sampling procedure and selection of experts
3.3.3 Presentation of the interview guide
3.4 Implementation of the methods
3.5 Data evaluation
3.5.1 Category system
3.5.2 Multi- Level- Governance Power Indicator
4 Presentation of the results
4.1 Background information
4.2 General: Coordination in the multi- level- development system
4.3 Process
4.4 Content
5 Discussion
5.1 Summary of the presentation of results
5.2 Interpretation of the results
5.3 Evaluation of the Multi- level DC
5.4 Limitation of Research
6 Conclusion
Research Objective and Topics
This master's thesis aims to examine the influence of federal-state cooperation on the international development cooperation of the Federal Republic of Germany. Through a multi-level governance analysis, the paper investigates how coordination dynamics between different political levels and stakeholders affect the performance and effectiveness of development policy programs, specifically focusing on the Federal-State Program (FSP).
- Multi-level governance theory in the context of German federalism
- Institutional roles and coordination mechanisms in development cooperation
- Evaluation of federal-state cooperation dynamics using empirical expert interviews
- Development of a Multi-Level-Governance Power Indicator to measure performance
Excerpt from the book
2.1 Multi- level Governance
In the following chapter, the MLGA is defined to derive coordination mechanisms. The coordination dilemma of multi-level systems is then described. This is followed by the presentation of the MLG power indicator, which can be used for multi-level analysis. Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks coined multi-level research in the context of their research on European structural policy. While creating an analytical concept, the political scientists define multi-level systems as follows: "system of continual negotiation among nested governments at several territorial tiers - supranational, national, regional and local" (Marks, 1993 p. 392).
The concept of analysis of EU politics enables the implementation of EU studies in federalism research and research on intergovernmental relations (Hooghe & Marks, 2003; Bolleyer & Börzel, 2010). This involves interaction in a field of tension between levels involving several actors (Hooghe & Marks, 2003). According to Scharpf, the analytical concept is anchored in actor-centred institutionalism (Scharpf, 2002). According to Marks, MLG systems have three prerequisites: The division of decision-making powers among different levels, the loss of control by individual member states in collective decision-making, and the fact that political arenas are nested rather than linked, allowing actors to use different levels to mediate interests (Radzyner et al., 2014 p. 25).
Summary of the Chapters
1 Introduction: Introduces the research field of development cooperation in Germany and outlines the research objective and the guiding thesis questions.
2 Theoretical backgrounds: Provides a comprehensive literature review on multi-level governance, the German federal system, and their application to development cooperation.
3 Methodology: Explains the empirical research design, the selection of qualitative expert interviews, and the development of the evaluation framework including the MLG Power Indicator.
4 Presentation of the results: Summarizes the qualitative findings from the expert interviews regarding the role of stakeholders, process flows, and content-related cooperation in the FSP.
5 Discussion: Analyzes and interprets the research results by linking them back to the theoretical framework to evaluate the performance of the multi-level system.
6 Conclusion: Summarizes findings, answers the central research question, and provides an assessment of the multi-level development policy system.
Keywords
Multi-level Governance, Federal-State Cooperation, Development Cooperation, German Federalism, Policy Linkage, Coordination Mechanisms, Stakeholder Participation, FSP, BMZ, GIZ, Institutionalism, Governance Indicator, Network Governance, Decentralization, Policy Interdependence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this thesis?
The thesis focuses on how the multi-level political system in Germany influences the effectiveness and coordination of state-level development cooperation projects.
What are the primary thematic areas?
The research explores the theoretical basis of multi-level governance, the institutional structure of German development cooperation, and the practical implementation of federal-state project initiatives.
What is the primary research question?
The study asks to what extent the multi-level system influences the performance of state development cooperation within the Federal Republic of Germany.
Which scientific methodology is applied?
The work employs a design-oriented empirical research methodology, using qualitative expert interviews analyzed through a deductive-inductive category system.
What is covered in the main section of the paper?
The main section details the institutional map of German actors (BMZ, GIZ, KfW), analyzes coordination processes, and provides an empirical evaluation based on the developed MLG Power Indicator.
Which keywords define this work?
Core themes include Multi-level Governance, Federal-State Cooperation, Development Cooperation, and institutional coordination mechanisms.
What is the function of the Multi-Level-Governance Power Indicator?
It serves as an analytical tool to transform qualitative findings into structured performance ratings for different categories of multi-level governance within the development policy framework.
What is the specific role of the Federal-State Program (FSP) in this study?
The FSP serves as the central case study to examine how federal and state-level actors coordinate their development policy expertise and resources.
- Quote paper
- Eric Loehr (Author), 2023, The Federal Republic of Germany. German Development Cooperation, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1453223
