Intergenerational Justice Prize of the FRFG
The fifth award 2009/2010 will treat the topic: “Possibilities and limits of cooperative problem solutions in party democracies” A breakdown of the topic follows bellow.
Possibilities and limits of cooperative problem solutions in party democracies
The decision making procedures are of a high complexity in the political system of Germany. Even coalition partners of a multi-party government are representing different points of view according to their own political interests when elections are approaching. When the majorities in the Parliament and the Federal Assembly differ, the opposition becomes a veto player. The intertwining of federal and regional competences makes a party politically motivated blockade possible. Often parties use the media, associations and unions to mobilise resistance against planned decisions. Financial cuts and long-term decisions especially fall victim to the party competition. In the short term it does not appear rational to support unpopular decisions but to sharpen the party’s profile by representing the particular interests of voters. These mechanisms sometimes impede a topic oriented cooperation. The lack of costly reforms in the education sector as well as the giving up on climate protection aims in order to further backward industries illustrate that often long-term measures are blocked by single parties. Especially future and succeeding generations are thus discriminated through a lack of topic oriented party cooperation. How can such a cooperation of the parties be furthered, and how can the reflexes to oppose be contained?
This years prize is focused on the German political system, thus the papers are available in German only. Please refer to our German website for further information.
Fifth Intergenerational Justice Award Ceremony in Berlin
For the fifth time, the FRFG awarded the Intergenerational Justice Prize funded by the Apfelbaum Foundation and endowed with €10,000.
On Wednesday, 23rd March, the FRFG hosted the award ceremony for the Intergenerational Justice Prize 2009/10 in Berlin. The laureates’ proposals on the topic “Possibilities and Limits of Cooperative Problem-Solving in Party Democracies” provoked a lively debate with the audience. The ceremony also included a panel discussion with several members of the German Bundestag. They all emphasized the necessity of stronger task orientation within politics. They agreed, however, that the media and the public still misperceived the considerable improvement already achieved in this respect.
The laureates: Mathias König, Wolfgang König, Volker Best,
Wolfgang Gründinger (FRFG), Prof. Dr. Jun (Jury), Dr. Eike-Christian Hornig
The panelists: Dr. Philipp Murmann (MdB CDU/CSU), Florian Bernschneider (MdB FDP), Dr. Dr. Jörg Tremmel (Associate Profesor, University of Tübingen), Kai Gehring (MdB Bündnis90/Die Grünen), Jutta Krellmann (MdB Die Linke).
For a detailed documentation and the conference agenda in German, please click here