Landeszentrale Für Politische Bildung Baden-Württemberg, Director: Lothar Frick 6Th Fully Revised Edition, Stuttgart 2008
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BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG A Portrait of the German Southwest 6th fully revised edition 2008 Publishing details Reinhold Weber and Iris Häuser (editors): Baden-Württemberg – A Portrait of the German Southwest, published by the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Baden-Württemberg, Director: Lothar Frick 6th fully revised edition, Stuttgart 2008. Stafflenbergstraße 38 Co-authors: 70184 Stuttgart Hans-Georg Wehling www.lpb-bw.de Dorothea Urban Please send orders to: Konrad Pflug Fax: +49 (0)711 / 164099-77 Oliver Turecek [email protected] Editorial deadline: 1 July, 2008 Design: Studio für Mediendesign, Rottenburg am Neckar, Many thanks to: www.8421medien.de Printed by: PFITZER Druck und Medien e. K., Renningen, www.pfitzer.de Landesvermessungsamt Title photo: Manfred Grohe, Kirchentellinsfurt Baden-Württemberg Translation: proverb oHG, Stuttgart, www.proverb.de EDITORIAL Baden-Württemberg is an international state – The publication is intended for a broad pub- in many respects: it has mutual political, lic: schoolchildren, trainees and students, em- economic and cultural ties to various regions ployed persons, people involved in society and around the world. Millions of guests visit our politics, visitors and guests to our state – in state every year – schoolchildren, students, short, for anyone interested in Baden-Würt- businessmen, scientists, journalists and numer- temberg looking for concise, reliable informa- ous tourists. A key job of the State Agency for tion on the southwest of Germany. Civic Education (Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Baden-Württemberg, LpB) is to inform Our thanks go out to everyone who has made people about the history of as well as the poli- a special contribution to ensuring that this tics and society in Baden-Württemberg. It is current edition could be published: Dr. Rein- thus high time that a publication such as this hold Weber, Dr. Iris Häuser, Prof. Dr. Hans- one appears in English. One of the most suc- Georg Wehling, Christoph Lang (Studio für cessful regional publications on the southwest Mediendesign, Rottenburg), Ferdinand Pfitzer of Germany is thus now available in the most (Pfitzer Druck und Medien, Renningen), the important international language. translation agency proverb oHG (Stuttgart), all of the state institutions involved as well as the The publication “Baden-Württemberg. A Por- Baden-Württemberg Ministry of State. trait of the German Southwest” (now in its sixth edition in the original German version) Stuttgart, August 2008 is the successful attempt to provide concise and understandable, reliable, factual and un- biased basic information about the state of Baden-Württemberg. With a total circulation Lothar Frick of around 150,000 copies in German, it has Director of the State Agency for become the most popular publication of the Civic Education of Baden-Württemberg State Agency for Civic Education of Baden- Württemberg. The basic information in “A Portrait of the Ger- man Southwest” supplements the wide range of publications on regional studies and regional politics edited by the State Agency for Civic Education. It covers a wide variety of topics ranging from geography and history, the con- stitution, political parties and elections, par- liament, government and administration, the economy and society through to education, religions, media, art and culture. Numerous diagrams and illustrations accompany the text and are themselves an important part of the information. 3 CONTENTS Editorial 3 Contents 5 Baden-Württemberg: Region and Borders 6 Historical Territories and Political Culture 10 The Foundation of the Southwest State 16 Population – the People in the State 24 Elections and Political Parties 30 The Baden-Württemberg Landtag 42 The Budget Law – the “Royal Prerogative” of Parliament 52 The State Government 54 Baden-Württemberg in the Federation and in Europe 62 Baden-Württemberg‘s Administration 70 Local Politics 76 Legal Channels and Appeals 81 The Economy in Baden-Württemberg 82 Agriculture 88 Environmental Policy 90 Education, Science and Research 96 Art and Culture 102 Media Landscape 108 Religions and Denominations 112 Memorial and Commemoration Sites 116 A Changing Society 120 References 126 5 BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG: REGION AND BORDERS The Neckar near Hessigheim. A meander on the river between Mundelsheim and Besigheim in the heart of the traditional wine-growing area. Photo: Manfred Grohe People in Baden-Württemberg affectionately re- Baden-Württemberg also takes third place in inhabitants. Belgium, for example, is smaller in fer to their home as “Ländle” (a diminutive form terms of population after North Rhine-West- size, the neighbouring Switzerland only mar- of Land, the German word for state). But the phalia and Bavaria with around 10.7 million ginally bigger with 41,293 km2. Countries such southwest of Germany is anything but a small, people living within its territory. Neither is as Austria, Finland, Denmark and Ireland have straightforward region. The state of Baden- Baden-Württemberg a dwarf when it comes to a smaller population than the state in the south- Württemberg was created in 1952 and covers area and population in a European comparison. west of Germany. an area of 35,752 km2, making it the third larg- If Baden-Württemberg were an independent est of the German states in terms of size. Only state, it would rank 10th amongst the 27 mem- Bavaria and Lower Saxony are bigger. ber states of the European Union in terms of 6 Despite the fact that the natural borders of the economic growth of the Single European the state are mainly bodies of water – the Market to be concentrated. Rhine to the west, the Iller in the east and Lake Constance to the south – Southwest Ger- A variety of natural landscapes many has always been an open region. The Burgundian Gate and the Saverne depression A typical feature of the region is its wide varie- were responsible for early influences from the ty of natural landscapes. Low mountain ranges Mediterranean and western Atlantic region, and lowlands, plateaus and basins, glacial land- Sharing borders with three countries and three German states Baden-Württemberg has 1,124 km of internal frontiers with the German states of Bavaria (860 km), Hesse (171 km) and Rhineland-Pa- latinate (93 km). To the west, the middle of the Rhine forms the common border with the neighbouring French region of Alsace over a length of 179 km. The borders with Austria and Switzerland on Lake Constance are not firmly defined. The shore of Lake Constance stretches for 86 km from Constance to the state border with Bavaria, not including the shore of the Untersee (Lower Lake). The national border to the Swiss neighbour is 316 km long. Baden-Württemberg borders on the cantons Basel-City, Basel-Land, Aargau, Schaffhausen, Thurgau and Zurich. The Swabian Alb stretches for more than 200 km across Baden-Württem- the Graubunden passes in the south for con- berg as a low mountain range. nections with Italy. The Danube opened up Upper Swabia, the countryside Photo: Manfred Grohe southeast Europe, and the Rhine valley with between the Swabian Alb, the Main region ensured important connec- the Danube and Lake Constance: in this hilly landscape lies the tions to the north and east. The southwest “Holy Mountain of Upper Swabia”, of Germany thus always assumed a role as scapes rich in lakes and moors as well as dry the 767 m high Bussen, a vantage mediator, a role that has become even more karst areas with little water; extensive arable point and place of pilgrimage. important over the past decades through pro- land and dense forests alternate in close suc- Photo: Manfred Grohe gressive European integration. Today, Baden- cession and make for the compartmentalisa- Württemberg is a central lynchpin in the mid- tion of the state into small areas. Baden-Würt- dle of Europe. The state also assumes a central temberg straddles two large natural landscape position in the European Economic Area and is units, the German cuesta landscape of the low part of a “Development belt” in an EU struc- mountain range and the Alpine foothills. The tural model, the so-called “Blue banana”, that cuesta landscape is split into the biggest natu- stretches from London over the Randstad Hol- ral landscape unit of the Neckar und Tauber land, Brussels, the Ruhr Area and the “Rhine “Gäu” tablelands as well as the Swabian Alb, corridor” through Switzerland to Milan. The Black Forest, the Swabian Keuper-Lias-Land, “Blue banana” hereby sees itself as the germ the Odenwald (with Spessart), the High Rhine cell of a future European “Megalopolis”, in area and the Upper Rhine lowland plain. The which European structural politicians expect Alpine foothills cover the prealpine uplands 7 A state abundant in water The southwest of Germany also is a state abundant in water. Although there are cer- tain areas that have few bodies of water such as the Swabian Alb, where water quickly sweeps into the lower ground, Lake Con- stance alone supplies drinking water for al- most four million people in the state as the biggest water reservoir with a surface area of 534 km2. Around 75 percent of the drink- ing water in the state comes from ground- water or springs. Constance on Lake Constance: the dividing point between and moors as well as the Danube-Iller table- the Upper and Lower Lake of the land. “Swabian Sea”. Close by is the island of Reichenau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the border to Around 40 percent of Baden-Württemberg is neighbouring Switzerland. covered by forest. The highest point in the Lake Constance is one of the biggest state is the Feldberg in the south of the Black freshwater lakes in the world. Forest, which rises to 1,493 m a. m. s. l. The Photo: Manfred Grohe highest mountain in Württemberg at 1,118 m is the Schwarzer Grat in the district of Ravens- burg, part of the Adelegg mountain range, some northern foothills of the Allgäu Alps.