This open access book presents a topical, comprehensive and differentiated analysis of Germany’s public administration and reforms. It provides an overview on key elements of German public administration at the federal, Länder and local levels of government as well as on current reform activities of the public sector. It examines the key institutional features of German public administration; the changing relationships between public administration, society and the private sector; the administrative reforms at different levels of the federal system and numerous sectors; and new challenges and modernization approaches like digitalization, Open Government and Better Regulation. Each chapter offers a combination of descriptive information and problem-oriented analysis, presenting key topical issues in Germany which are relevant to an international readership.

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - Political Systems - Germany, grade: A, Ryerson University (Canada Toronto Ryerson University), course: Public Administration and Governance, 25 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: While frontrunners like the United Kingdom (UK) under Thatcher, the United States under Reagan and the New Zealand began New Public Management (NPM) reforms in the 1980s, Germany's federal government level only showed movement toward modernization in the late 1990s, and efforts still have not gone far enough to be evaluated with confidence. The most notable government reforms were, undertaken by the local governments, which engaged in incremental reforms in the 1980s, and only began engaging in NPM after a ten-year delay in the 1990s, when the UK and other countries had started concentrating government reform efforts on engaging multi-stakeholder networks through local and public governance measures. Focusing on the local level of government I attempt to explain the puzzle as to why Germany was a decade behind in adopting NPM measures, and why the initiative to reform public management started primarily at the local level and remains mainly limited to the local level of government. Subsequently, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate to what extent local government reforms in Germany vary from those perused by the NPM pioneer, the UK. A focus will be on institutional and ideological particularities of the German NPM response, and detailed information about the NPM contents implemented in the Federal Republic will only be mentioned if they support comparative claims. Further, I will provide a broad assessment to what extent German reform feature can be ascribed directly to internation NPM influences. Relevant information about the UK, its governmental structure and reform efforts will be given. Moreover, the structure of the German government system, and local government reforms since the 1960s will be el

Government in the Federal Republic of Germany: The Executive at Work focuses on the government in the Federal Republic of Germany as an executive activity, as well as the institutional framework for the overall control and direction of public action. The effects of the decentralized structure of government on the behavior and relationships of political parties are also explored. This book is comprised of eight chapters and begins with a discussion on past institutional structures and procedures that have shaped particular ideas about law, politics, and government in West Germany, including the retention of a federal structure of government, constitutionalism, and the Rechtsstaat. The following chapters deal with the political framework of the Federal Republic of Germany; federal executive leadership; the federal administrative system; and federalism and decentralization in West German government. The bureaucracy, the problem of how to control the exercise of governmental powers, and the challenge of expanding government in West Germany are also considered. This monograph will be of interest to political scientists, politicians, government officials, and students of government and politics.