Welcher Sozialstaat?

The principle of the »social state« ( Sozialstaatsprinzip) as a central element of the German Basic Law has been a matter of significant and sometimes fierce controversy. Concentrating on the debates among professors of constitutional and administrative law, and analyzing the argumentations put forward in the interplay of academic and political arenas, the study reveals the underlying modes of thinking. It thereby also demonstrates the general evolution of public law in the Federal Republic of Germany between 1949 and 1990.