Print page Close window

European Centre for Research on Federalism, Tuebingen/Germany

Yearbook on Federalism 2006

Themen der Forschung [Research Issues]

Auswirkungen des demografischen Wandels auf föderale Regierungssysteme: Kanada und Deutschland im Vergleich

Christian Leuprecht

pp. 83-101

This article examines the relationship between demographic change and federal systems. It makes a case for demographic change as a salient spatial aspect of federative systems. The argument is premised on two propositions. The first proposition holds that federal systems face a similar bifurcation of demographic trends at the level of substates: the population of a substate may be ageing either more or less rapidly, may be more hetero- or more homogeneous, and more urban or rural. The second proposition holds that these demographic trends converge: younger populations also tend to be more heterogeneous and more urban whereas older populations tend to be more homogeneous and more rural. The chapter examines the impact of this emerging dialectic between units that are either younger, more diverse, and more urban, or aging more rapidly while remaining homogeneous and more rural on federal governance.

Suggested citation for this article:
Leuprecht, Christian 2006: Auswirkungen des demografischen Wandels auf föderale Regierungssysteme: Kanada und Deutschland im Vergleich, in: Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung (ed.): Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2006. Föderalismus, Subsidiarität und Regionen in Europa, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, p. 83-101.