DOCSLIB.ORG

Revised Version

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Revised Version The Formation and Non-Formation of Coalitions between the CDU and the Greens on the Local Level, 1993-2011: Evidence from German Cities Martin Gross Professur Politische Wissenschaft III Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften Universität Mannheim [email protected] Paper to be presented at the conference on Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) – Applications and Methodological Challenges, 22-23 November 2013, Frankfurt, Germany Panel: “QCA in the Making” First draft – Please do not circulate Revised version Abstract This paper is part of an ongoing PhD project that deals with the formation and non-formation of coalitions between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Greens on the German local level. The main research question is as follows: why are both parties forming so-called ‘black-green’ minimal winning coalitions in one city but not in another city where they also have the arithmetical possibility to do that? I argue that this ‘problem’ is empirically, theoretically, and methodologically well suited to be analysed with crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA). Various conditions that are expected to have an impact on local coalition formation are generated by both drawing on the literature on national, regional, and local government formation, and by analysing local coalition formation in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia by applying conditional logit models. I propose six hypotheses concerning necessary and/or sufficient conditions for the formation of ‘black- green’ minimal winning coalitions in large German cities. Since the PhD project is still in the phase of data gathering, I just present a preliminary data matrix and discuss some potential drawbacks of my analyses so far. Key words: csQCA; coalition formation; German local political system; Christian Democrats; Greens 1 1 Introduction The outcome of the German federal election in 2013 resulted in puzzled reactions of the political actors. On the one hand, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) almost gained an absolute majority of seats in the German Bundestag together with her Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU). However, the former coalition partner, the Liberals (FDP), failed to entry the parliament. On the other hand, the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) clearly missed an absolute majority.1 Therefore, the ‘usual’ coalition patterns in Germany – CDU/CSU and FDP, and SPD and Greens – were not feasible. This resulted in so-called ‘Sondierungsgesprächen’ (exploratory talks) both between CDU/CSU and the Greens and between the CDU/CSU and the Social Democrats. The former did not lead to coalition negotiations due to (perceived) policy differences. More interestingly, the Prime Minister of Thuringia, Christine Lieberknecht (CDU), called the attention to the fact that neither the CDU/CSU nor the Greens had set up such a ‘liaison’ between both parties over the past years (Briseño 2013). This is certainly true with regard to the national and the state level. The only so-called ‘black-green’ coalition between the CDU and the Greens in a German state (Hamburg) failed after two and a half years in 2010. Nevertheless, a closer look to larger cities in Germany reveals that there have been (and still are) some coalitions between the CDU and the Greens in local councils. The purpose of the PhD project is the identification of factors (or ‘conditions’) that determine why Christian Democrats and the Greens coalesce in some situations but not in others where they also have an absolute majority of seats. I am applying crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA) for, empirical, theoretical, and methodological reasons. Empirically, the number of cases with a ‘positive’ outcome, i.e. the number of ‘black-green’ minimal winning coalitions, is very small, compared to the number of situations where CDU and Greens have gained an absolute majority of seats in local councils but did not form a coalition. Overall, with regard to ‘co- operations’ between CDU and Greens on the local level in Germany we are dealing with a small number of cases. First, not every ‘co-operation’ on the local level qualifies as an equivalent to a ‘coalition’ on the state or national level. Second, especially in smaller municipalities there is often no formally agreed ‘co-operation’ (or coalition). Local political actors rather deal with daily problems in an ad hoc manner. Therefore, I define a coalition on the local level as every co-operation between (at least) two parties (or independent local lists) 1 Only by including the Left Party (Die Linke) could the Social Democrats and the Greens form a government coalition. However, this option has been excluded during the election campaigns. 2 that is based on a written agreement (coalition agreement). Furthermore, I only study coalitions in cities with at least 100.000 inhabitants. Many studies on local politics in Germany show that particularly the local councils in large cities can be seen as equivalents to national and regional parliaments (see, e.g., Egner et al. 2013; Gabriel 1984) with the antagonism between majority and minority factions (see, e.g., Gunlicks 1986). In addition, the impact of national and regional parties on local politics increases with the number of inhabitants (see Brearey 1989; Ellwein and Zoll 1982; Fried 1976; Wehling 1986, 1991, 1995). Third, the literature on (government) coalition formation clearly shows that most of the theories cannot deal with minority governments, or, to put it in other words, minority governments require other explanations (see Strøm 1990). Likewise, surplus majority coalitions cannot be explained with pure office-seeking theories (see, e.g., Jungar 2000). Therefore, I am focussing on minimal winning coalitions because the minimal winning criterion is one of the most powerful explanations in coalition research (Laver and Schofield 1990: 92). This leaves us with 10 minimal winning coalitions between CDU and Greens in large German cities (see Table 1). Note that ‘black-green’ coalitions only have been formed in four of the 13 non-city states.2 ***Table 1 about here*** Even more important, there is a theoretical argument why a set-theoretic approach like QCA is appropriate for the study of minimal winning coalitions between CDU and Greens in large German cities. Existing studies on (government) coalitions (see, e.g., Döring and Hellström 2013; Martin and Stevenson 2001, 2010) are solely focusing on the explanation of different factors that increase the probability that an observed government coalition is formed out of the great variety of all possible coalition alternatives. This means, on the one hand, that there exists a lack of studies focusing on the explanation of a particular party combination forming coalitions. On the other hand, the most influential factors for coalition formation are assumed to work as linear additive effects. To put it in other words, it is assumed that significant independent variables influence the probability of a coalition alternative independently from each other. This is quite a strong assumption in social science research since many social phenomena are complex by nature (Ragin 1987). Furthermore, by focusing on a particular party combination as possible outcome of coalition bargaining processes that has not been 2 The ‘black-green’ coalition that formed in Essen 2004 is excluded from the analysis because CDU and Greens gained exactly half of the seats in the local council. Thus, the coalition is somewhere in between a winning coalition and a minority coalition. 3 formed regularly (like ‘black-green’ minimal winning coalitions in Germany on the national or on the state level), a review of the most prominent approaches in coalition theory reveals that there is quite a number of factors (or ‘conditions’) that could explain coalitions between the CDU and the Greens. This corroborates the assumption that one has to consider ‘causal complexity’ or ‘multiple conjunctural causation’ (Ragin 1987: 25f.). Associated with this is the notion that some factors (or ‘conditions’) can be necessary and/or sufficient for the explanation of an event (or ‘outcome’). Some scholars unintentionally use terms like ‘necessity’ and ‘sufficiency’ when explaining their empirical results regarding coalition formation. Bräuninger and Debus (2008: 330), for instance, state with regard to coalition formation in the German states that the variables ‘minimal winning coalition’ and the ‘inclusion of the strongest party’ ‘can almost be characterized as necessary conditions; but they are by no means sufficient with their explanatory power with regard to the large number of such [government] coalitions’ (own translation; emphasis added). In other words, the conditions ‘minimal winning coalition’ and ‘inclusion of the strongest party’ are necessary conditions because when the outcome (the actual formed coalition) occurs they are (almost always) present. Nevertheless, both conditions are clearly not sufficient conditions because there are potential coalitions where the conditions are present but the outcome does not occur (because the coalitions did not get realized; see the empirical application of a conditional logit model on local coalition formation in Germany in section 3). This example illustrates that a set-theoretic approach like csQCA can be applied to the explanation of the formation and non- formation of coalitions. Methodologically, unlike conventional statistical techniques, csQCA allows for the analysis of the formation
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Parliamentary, Presidential and Semi-Presidential Democracies Democracies Are Often Classified According to the Form of Government That They Have
    Parliamentary, Presidential and Semi-Presidential Democracies Democracies are often classified according to the form of government that they have: • Parliamentary • Presidential • Semi-Presidential Legislative responsibility refers to a situation in which a legislative majority has the constitutional power to remove a government from office without cause. A vote of confidence is initiated by the government { the government must resign if it fails to obtain a legislative majority. A vote of no confidence is initiated by the legislature { the government must resign if it fails to obtain a legislative majority. A constructive vote of no confidence must indicate who will replace the government if the incumbent loses a vote of no confidence. A vote of no confidence is initiated by the legislature { the government must resign if it fails to obtain a legislative majority. A constructive vote of no confidence must indicate who will replace the government if the incumbent loses a vote of no confidence. A vote of confidence is initiated by the government { the government must resign if it fails to obtain a legislative majority. The defining feature of presidential democracies is that they do not have legislative responsibility. • US Government Shutdown, click here In contrast, parliamentary and semi-presidential democracies both have legislative responsibility. • PM Question Time (UK), click here In addition to legislative responsibility, semi-presidential democracies also have a head of state who is popularly elected for a fixed term. A head of state is popularly elected if she is elected through a process where voters either (i) cast a ballot directly for a candidate or (ii) they cast ballots to elect an electoral college, whose sole purpose is to elect the head of state.
    [Show full text]
  • Forming a Government in the Event of a Hung Parliament: the UK's Recognition Rules in Comparative
    Forming a government in the event of a hung parliament The UK’s recognition rules in comparative context Petra Schleiter Department of Politics and International Relations University of Oxford Valerie Belu Department of Politics and International Relations University of Oxford (Graduate Student) Robert Hazell The Constitution Unit University College London May 2016 ISBN: 978-1-903903-73-5 Published by: The Constitution Unit School of Public Policy University College London 29-31 Tavistock Square London WC1H 9QU United Kingdom Tel: 020 7679 4977 Fax: 020 7679 4978 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/ Department of Politics and International Relations Manor Road Building Manor Road Oxford OX1 3UQ United Kingdom Tel: 01865 278700 Email: [email protected] Web: www.politics.ox.ac.uk © The Constitution Unit, UCL & DPIR, University of Oxford 2016 This report is sold subject to the condition that is shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. First Published May 2016 Front cover image copyright Crown Copyright/ Number 10 Flickr 2009 Contents Executive summary ......................................................................................................................... 1 The need for clearer rules on government formation ....................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded from Manchesterhive.Com at 09/23/2021 12:29:26PM Via Free Access Austria Belgium
    Section 5 Data relating to political systems THE COUNTRIES OF WESTERN EUROPE referendum. The constitutional court (Verfassungsgerichtshof ) determines the constitutionality of legislation and Austria executive acts. Population 8.1 million (2000) Current government The 1999 Capital Vienna election brought to an end the Territory 83,857 sq. km 13-year government coalition GDP per capita US$25,788 (2000) between the Social Democratic Party Unemployment 3.7 per cent of of Austria (SPÖ) and Austrian workforce (2000) People’s Party (ÖVP), which had State form Republic. The Austrian been under considerable strain. When constitution of 1920, as amended in the two parties failed to reach a 1929, was restored on 1 May 1945. On coalition agreement, Austria found 15 May 1955, the four Allied Powers itself short of viable alternatives. The signed the State Treaty with Austria, record gains of the radical right ending the occupation and Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) had recognising Austrian independence. changed the balance of power within Current head of state President the party system. The other two Thomas Klestil (took office 8 July numerically viable coalitions – 1992, re-elected 1998). SPÖ/FPÖ or ÖVP/FPÖ – had been State structure A federation with nine ruled out in advance by the two provinces (Länder), each with its own mainstream parties. An attempt by the constitution, legislature and SPÖ to form a minority government government. failed. Finally, a coalition was formed Government The president appoints the between the ÖVP and FPÖ under prime minister (chancellor), and, on Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP) and the chancellor’s recommendation, a reluctantly sworn in by President cabinet (Council of Ministers) of Klestil on 5 February 2000.
    [Show full text]
  • Do Coalition Partners Drift Apart Or Stick Together? an Analysis of Party Platform Changes in 8 Western European Countries
    Do Coalition Partners Drift Apart or Stick Together? An analysis of party platform changes in 8 Western European countries Abstract Coalition governments are the norm in West European democracies. Yet, we do not know whether governing together affects parties’ calculations about setting their pol- icy position in their next election manifesto. Therefore we ask: do coalition parties drift apart or stick together after a spell in office? We hypothesize that government parties stick together in anticipation of government continuation. Coalition parties are more likely to expect continuation if they are popular, have no inter-party conflict and have experience in co-governing. If this is not the case, coalition parties drift apart as they seek new coalition formation opportunities. We empirically substanti- ate our hypotheses with an innovative measure of party platform change analyzing 1,193 platform changes in 8 European democracies between 1968 and 2013 using new opinion poll data and several existing data sets. We demonstrate that parties plant the seeds of future coalition participation in their platforms: the more experienced and the more popular coalition parties are, the more they converge. Encountering conflict, on the contrary, leads them to diverge. Key words: Political Parties’ Strategies, Coalition Government, Coordination of Party Platforms, Political Decision Making In 1982, the mutual dislike between Joop den Uyl, the leader of the Dutch Social Democrats (PvdA), and Dries van Agt, the leader of the Christian Democrats (CDA), had reached its zenith. The coalition government consisting of these two parties and D66 collapsed. A few months later, new elections followed, where the CDA had shifted their position to the right, closer to its alternative coalition partner the Liberal Conserva- tives (VVD).
    [Show full text]
  • The Mainstream Right, the Far Right, and Coalition Formation in Western Europe by Kimberly Ann Twist a Dissertation Submitted In
    The Mainstream Right, the Far Right, and Coalition Formation in Western Europe by Kimberly Ann Twist A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Jonah D. Levy, Chair Professor Jason Wittenberg Professor Jacob Citrin Professor Katerina Linos Spring 2015 The Mainstream Right, the Far Right, and Coalition Formation in Western Europe Copyright 2015 by Kimberly Ann Twist Abstract The Mainstream Right, the Far Right, and Coalition Formation in Western Europe by Kimberly Ann Twist Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science University of California, Berkeley Professor Jonah D. Levy, Chair As long as far-right parties { known chiefly for their vehement opposition to immigration { have competed in contemporary Western Europe, scholars and observers have been concerned about these parties' implications for liberal democracy. Many originally believed that far- right parties would fade away due to a lack of voter support and their isolation by mainstream parties. Since 1994, however, far-right parties have been included in 17 governing coalitions across Western Europe. What explains the switch from exclusion to inclusion in Europe, and what drives mainstream-right parties' decisions to include or exclude the far right from coalitions today? My argument is centered on the cost of far-right exclusion, in terms of both office and policy goals for the mainstream right. I argue, first, that the major mainstream parties of Western Europe initially maintained the exclusion of the far right because it was relatively costless: They could govern and achieve policy goals without the far right.
    [Show full text]
  • Do Dutch Ministerial Appointments Respond to Individualization And
    Master Thesis Master COMPASS (Comparative Politics, Administration and Society) 2017-2018 Radboud University Nijmegen The government we deserve: do Dutch ministerial appointments respond to individualization and party-decline? A study into ministerial selection in Dutch government cabinets in 1977-2017 Floris van Bodegraven s4632370 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Monique Leyenaar 29-7-2019 Picture: Houses of Parliament, Hofvijver, The Hague Michiel Verbeek, BY-SA 4.0 https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Den_Haag,_het_Binnenhof_diverse_RM_met_de_Hofvijver_op_de_voorgrond_foto8_2015-08- 05_18.56.jpg 1 s4632370 Floris van Bodegraven Abstract This thesis performs a descriptive analysis of all ministerial appointments in Dutch cabinets between 1977-2017 in order to understand find out whether societal macro-developments such as individualization, party decline and party system fragmentation influence the preference of political parties and prime ministers for the type of experience of their ministers during government formation. Although it finds no support for this theorem, this thesis does contribute to the literature by expanding previous work into the type of ministers that take seat in Dutch government. As such, it finds that while political experience dominated up to 2002, it seems to be on its retour. This thesis attempted to find causal relationships between ministerial expertise and individualization and party decline. This analysis did not provide any usable results due to multicollinearity between the predictor-variables, but may provide some avenues for further research. Keywords: Ministerial selection, multiparty government, cabinet government, government formation, principal- agent approach, party decline, party system fragmentation. Wordcount: 20.818 2 s4632370 Floris van Bodegraven Acknowledgement & Foreword This thesis started as result of pure curiosity after the Dutch general parliamentary elections of 2017.
    [Show full text]
  • Three Essays on Coalition Formation and Ideological Information Processing By
    Perceptions of Partnership: Three Essays on Coalition Formation and Ideological Information Processing by Ida Bæk Hjermitslev Department of Political Science Duke University Date: Approved: Herbert Kitschelt, Advisor Christopher Johnston Rune Slothuus Georg Vanberg Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science in the Graduate School of Duke University 2020 ABSTRACT Perceptions of Partnership: Three Essays on Coalition Formation and Ideological Information Processing by Ida Bæk Hjermitslev Department of Political Science Duke University Date: Approved: Herbert Kitschelt, Advisor Christopher Johnston Rune Slothuus Georg Vanberg An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science in the Graduate School of Duke University 2020 Copyright c 2020 by Ida Bæk Hjermitslev All rights reserved Abstract How are voters’ perceptions of party positions a↵ected by the formation of coalition governments? Voters perceive parties that form coalitions together as more ideo- logically similar than they would have had otherwise. This framework endogenizes perceptions of parties to the coalition formation process. Instead of relying exclu- sively on the policies that parties are advocating in election campaigns, voters assess partners relationally based on their mutual interactions. This dissertation extends the existing literature by examining various aspects of how coalition formation impacts voters’ perceptions. Chapter 2 explores whether voters’ perceptions of opposition parties are altered by coalition formation. Using survey data from the European Election Study 1989-2019, Ifindthattheimpactofcoalitionformationonvoters’perceptionsofoppositionpar- ties is comparable in size to that of coalition members.
    [Show full text]
  • Voting Weights and Formateur Advantages in the Formation of Coalition Governments 1
    VOTING WEIGHTS AND FORMATEUR ADVANTAGES IN THE FORMATION OF COALITION GOVERNMENTS 1 Stephen Ansolabehere Department of Political Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology James M. Snyder, Jr. Department of Political Science and Department of Economics Massachusetts Institute of Technology Aaron B. Strauss Department of Political Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology Michael M. Ting Department of Political Science and SIPA Columbia University July, 2003 1James Snyder and Michael Ting gratefully acknowledge the ¯nancial support of National Sci- ence Foundation Grant SES-0079035. Michael Ting also acknowledges the ¯nancial and intellectual support of the Center for Basic Research in the Social Sciences at Harvard University. Stephen Ansolabehere gratefully acknowledges the support of the Carnegie Corporation under the Carnegie Scholars program. Abstract We examine the relationship between parliamentary seats and cabinet posts in European governments between 1946 and 2001. Our speci¯cation improves on past studies in two respects. First, it derives and uses the voting weights of the underlying coalition formation games. This reduces the measurement error introduced when seat shares are used to proxy for voting weights. Second, the statistical model allows us to nest the predictions of di®er- ent formal theories of the distribution of posts. We ¯nd that for non-formateur parties in the government, there is a linear relationship between their share of the voting weight in parliament and their share of cabinet posts. Additionally, the formateur party receives a substantial \bonus" relative to its voting weight. The latter ¯nding is more consistent with proposal-based bargaining models of coalition formation, and less so with demand-bargaining models.
    [Show full text]
  • American Political Science Review, Forthcoming
    WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET: BARGAINING BEFORE AN AUDIENCE UNDER MULTIPARTY GOVERNMENT LANNY W. MARTIN ∗ GEORG VANBERG ∗∗ Abstract. Party elites in coalition governments are acutely aware that the deals they strike will be critically evaluated by their supporters, and that they risk losing support if they are perceived as ineffective negotiators. This has a powerful influence on the bargains parties strike. Because most supporters are unaware of the complex aspects of bargains, and instead rely on simple heuristics to evaluate their most visible features, parties have incentives to meet supporter expectations primarily on easily observable outcomes. To do so, they make tradeoffs on less observable outcomes. This implies that the more visible features of a bargain typically do not accurately reflect the relative success of parties in coalition negotiations. We evaluate our argument using original data on the office rewards and policy risks of portfolio allocation in 16 parliamentary democracies. Our findings support our argument, and they have important implications for the nature of representation under multiparty government. American Political Science Review, Forthcoming * Professor, Department of Social and Political Sciences, Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy, Bocconi University. [email protected]. ** Professor, Department of Political Science, Duke University. [email protected]. We wish to thank Christoph Vanberg, as well as seminar participants at Aarhus University, Emory Univer- sity, Humboldt University, King’s College London, the University of Bologna, the University of Essex, the University of Kentucky, the University of Mannheim, the University of Milan, and the University of Zurich for helpful comments on previous versions of this article.
    [Show full text]
  • The Queen, the Populists and the Others
    VU Research Portal The Queen, the Populists and the Others. New Dutch Politics explained to foreigners. Sap, J.W. 2010 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Sap, J. W. (2010). The Queen, the Populists and the Others. New Dutch Politics explained to foreigners. VU University Press. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. E-mail address: [email protected] Download date: 26. Sep. 2021 jan willem sap sap willem jan Outsiders look with surprise at the climate The Queen, change in the Netherlands. As well as the Dutch themselves. Their country seemed to be a multi-cultural paradise. But today popu- lists are dominating politics and media. Much to the chagrin of the old political elite, includ- ing the progressive Head of State, Queen Beatrix.
    [Show full text]
  • Biography of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke
    Biography of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke His Royal Highness Grand Duke Henri was born on 16 April 1955 at Betzdorf Castle in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Grand Duke Henri, Prince of Nassau, Prince of Bourbon-Parma, is the eldest son of the five children of Grand Duke Jean and Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte. On 14 February 1981, the Hereditary Grand Duke married Maria Teresa Mestre at the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame de Luxembourg. They have five children: • Prince Guillaume (born in 1981), the Hereditary Grand Duke, • Prince Félix (born in 1984), • Prince Louis (born in 1986), • Princess Alexandra (born in 1991) • Prince Sébastien (born in 1992). He became Head of State of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on 7 October 2000. Preparing his role as future Head of State Prince Henri completed his secondary education in Luxembourg and France, where he passed his baccalaureate in 1974. He trained at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst in Great Britain and obtained the rank of officer in 1975. Prince Henri then enrolled at the Institut des hautes études internationales (Graduate Institute of International Studies) in Geneva, Switzerland, where he graduated with a Licence ès Sciences Politiques in 1980. Prince Henri met his future wife Maria Teresa Mestre during their university studies. Service Presse et Communication 1/7 In 1989, he was appointed Honorary Major of the Parachute Regiment in the United Kingdom. He also travelled extensively overseas to further his knowledge and education, particularly to the United States and Japan. As Hereditary Grand Duke, Prince Henri was an ex officio member of the Council of State from 1980 until 1998, which gave him insight into the legislative and institutional procedures and workings of the country.
    [Show full text]
  • Subnational Government Composed of 102 Municipalities ( Communes )
    EUROPE LUXEMBOURG UNITARY COUNTRY BASIC SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS INCOME GROUP: HIGH INCOME LOCAL CURRENCY: EURO (EUR) POPULATION AND GEOGRAPHY ECONOMIC DATA Area: 2 586 km 2 GDP: 62.2 billion (current PPP international dollars), i.e. 104 175 dollars per inhabitant Population: 0.597 million inhabitants (2017), an increase of 2.2% (2017) per year (2010-2015) Real GDP growth: 2.3% (2017 vs 2016) Density: 231 inhabitants / km 2 Unemployment rate: 5.5% (2017) Urban population: 90.7% of national population Foreign direct investment, net inflows (FDI): 6 623 (BoP, current USD millions, 2016) Urban population growth: 3.2% (2017 vs 2016) Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF): 17.0% of GDP (2017) Capital city: Luxembourg (20.1% of national population) HDI: 0.904 (very high), rank 21 MAIN FEATURES OF THE MULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a representative democracy, in the form of a constitutional monarchy. Under the Constitution of 1868, it has a unicameral Parliament ( Chambre des députés ) made up of 60 seats, with deputies elected by proportional representation for five-year terms. Voting is compulsory for par - liamentary and municipal elections. The executive branch of the government is composed of the Grand Duke, as Head of State, whose powers are conferred by dynastic succession, and by the Government, led by the Prime Minister ( formateur ), appointed by the Grand Duke with the support of the Chamber of Deputies. Luxembourg is a unitary State with a single-tier of local government, called municipalities (communes). The 1868 Constitution (Chapter IX on municipalities) and the 1988 Municipal Organisation Act ( Loi communale , amended in 2013) constitute the fundamental laws of the division of powers between the State and the Municipalities.
    [Show full text]