COVID-19 and the Federal State

ABSTRACT

After almost two years through the pandemic, COVID-19 has proven to be a considerable and specific challenge for liberal states such as the Federal Republic of Germany. Its constitution requires state actors on all levels to take action to protect its citizens against risks entailed by infectious diseases, but also to respect the rule of law and fundamental rights, data protection legislation and institutional arrangements, particularly the relationship between the central level ("Bund”) and the states ("Länder”). As it turns out, this federalist structure does not provide for an adequate legal framework when it comes to global pandemics such as COVID-19. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.