What is a state?

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Whether for general knowledge or for political lessons, knowledge of a federal state can be helpful - it's good if you have the relevant information at hand for exam assignments or class work to have. What a federal state is should also be known so that the relationship between the Federal Republic of Germany and the federal states can be recognized.

Germany consists of a total of 16 individual federal states.
Germany consists of a total of 16 individual federal states.

What a federal state is - information about the Federal Republic

A country does not always have to designate a nation, but can very well refer to a federal state as part of the nation.

  • The question often arises as to what a federal state is. According to the federal constitutional order of the Federal Republic, the federal states are endowed with a partially sovereign competence. This allows, for example, the legal regulation of country-specific areas of responsibility that are not regulated nationwide. For example, the school system is the responsibility of the federal states, while rough guidelines are issued as framework legislation by the federal government.
  • Germany has a total of 16 federal states. Since the reunification of West and East Germany, this includes Saxony since 1990, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Brandenburg as well as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with the respective capitals of the State.
  • The western German federal states include Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Bremen as well as Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland each represent a federal state.
  • Relevant for education or The state government is the state government, with Bavaria, Thuringia and Saxony being the state government. The state governments of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate are also known as the Council of Ministers.
  • How many states does Germany have? - Informative

    Similar to Austria, for example, Germany has many federal states that ...

  • The typical city-states of Hamburg, Berlin and Bremen, on the other hand, are named by the state government of the federal state Senate.
  • The individual heads of government of the respective federal state are also named differently from one another. The regional states typically have a prime minister, while Berlin has a governing mayor. In Bremen and Hamburg, the head of government is referred to as the President of the Senate. The city-states each call the head of government a senator.

The state with other typical features

The partially sovereign federal state as a member state of the nation as a whole has other characteristics.

  • Also of concern to the state's sovereignty over the nation as a whole is that the In terms of international law, residents of the respective countries have their own competencies and responsibilities are.
  • This affects, for example, through the federal system in partial differences in the Determination of the school system, for which, for example, the education ministries of the federal states have the power exercise. This means that, for example, school holidays begin at different times in North Rhine-Westphalia than in Bavaria.
  • According to the form of government of all German federal states, these are parliamentary republics. According to the constitutional requirement of homogeneity under Article 28 of the Basic Law, this form is prescribed.
  • Each federal state represents its own, self-contained part of Germany and has an independent one Legislative with the legislative state parliament, a judiciary for the judiciary and executive bodies such as the police.
  • Similar to the federal state, the sub-states of the country are referred to as cantons in Switzerland, of which there are 26 that are organized similar to the principle of the federal states.

Accordingly, you should essentially remember for the school that the federal state is on the one hand independent on the basis of the competencies laid down by the constitution. On the other hand, the federal states are subject to the federal government and its specialist competencies in key issues.

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