Local Government Modernization in Germany: Between Incrementalism and Reform Waves
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Author | Hellmut Wollmann |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9299.00237 |
LOCAL GOVERNMENT MODERNIZATION IN
GERMANY: BETWEEN INCREMENTALISM AND
REFORM WAVES
HELLMUT WOLLMANN
In taking a historical-institutionlist approach, this paper looks at the development
of administrative reforms in German local government which, because of the com-
paratively high degree of political and administrative decentralization of the Federal
Republic has played a crucial role in the latter’s entire politico-administrative setting
and, hence, in its institutional reforms. The paper mainly identifies three stages in
the post-war development of administrative reforms. During the ‘planning move-
ment’ of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Germany’s local level government and
administration underwent significant and, to a considerable degree, lasting insti-
tutional changes. The 1980s were a period of incrementalist adaptation. Since the
beginning of the 1990s, conspicuously later than in the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinav-
ian countries, but earlier and faster than the federal and the La
¨nder levels, Ger-
many’s local government has embarked upon dramatic changes particularly on two
scores. First, in a growing number of municipalities and counties, administrative
modernization was incorporated under the heading of a ‘New Steering Model’
(NSM) that largely drew on the dominant international New Public Management
(NPM) debate. The dynamics of the ongoing administrative reforms are marked by
an ‘amalgamation’ of NPM/NSM and earlier (‘traditional’) reform concepts. Sec-
ondly, at the same time, the political institutions of local government have under-
gone a significant shift as a result of the introduction of direct democratic procedures
(direct election of mayors and heads of counties, binding local referenda). The paper
argues that it is this co-incidence and co-evolution of administrative and political
reforms that make for the peculiarity of Germany’s current modernization tra-
jectory, distinguishing it from the Anglo-Saxon and, to a lesser degree, from the
Scandinavian modernization paths.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
In recent writing by foreign observers public sector modernization in Ger-
many during the past twenty years has been perceived, from an inter-
nationally comparative perspective, as a divergent, if not deviant case. In
a comparative overview which concentrated on central government level
development, Michael Barzelay concluded that, by contrast with Anglo-
Saxon, and also Scandinavian countries, ‘Germany in the 1980s and 1990s
is not a case of comprehensive public management policy change’ (Barzelay
2000, p. 85). In comparing local government modernization over the past
two decades in the Netherlands and in Germany, Frank Hendriks and
Hellmut Wollmann is Professor at the Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin Institut fuer Sozialwissen-
schaften Politikwissenschaft.
Public Administration Vol. 78 No. 4, 2000 (915–936)
Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2000, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street,
Malden, MA 02148, USA.
916 HELLMUT WOLLMANN
Pieter Tops noted significantly different, yet ‘intersecting reform trends’
(Henriks and Tops 1999, p. 133 ff.).
In this article an attempt will be made to shed some more light on the
course and pattern of public sector modernization in Germany and the fac-
tors that have been shaping it (Benz and Goetz 1996; Derlien 1996; Lo
¨ffler
1997; Wollmann 1997; Schro
¨ter and Wollmann 1997; Pollitt and Bouckaert
2000, p. 235 ff). In identifying the degree of convergence with or divergence
from other major countries, the German case will be put into a compara-
tive perspective.
•The paper will focus on the local government level which promises to
be particularly instructive in the German case, as local government
plays a key functional role in Germany’s federal and comparatively
decentralized fabric (Wollmann 2000c, 2000d). As to employing the
term (local) ‘government in this article a caveat needs to be made. In
Anglo-American usage the term government denotes the body of polit-
ical and administrative institutions (with some political overtone) on
the central as well as regional/local levels. By contrast, in German usage
Regierung (which is the closest equivalent to government) refers to the
executive institutions (particularly ministries) on the federal/central and
the federal States (La
¨nder) levels. Because of related historical, concep-
tual (legal doctrine) and terminological reasons, one traditionally
speaks of ‘local self-administration’ (kommunale Selbstverwaltung). In
order to communicate more easily to the reader familiar with Anglo-
American terminology in this article – note the caveat – the term ‘local
self-government’ will be used.
•In treating local government modernization both the political and
administrative institutions will be dealt with.
Institutional change and modernization can be conceived as a sequence
of decisions on institutional choice (methodologically speaking, as dependent
variables) which are taken by the relevant actors in the pertinent policy dis-
courses and decision-making arenas.
In trying to explain the institutional choices and changes a historical insti-
tutionalist framework (Peters, p. 1996, p. 210 f.) will be used in which, as
explanatory variables, the following factors are assumed as being parti-
cularly influential:
•the international policy and modernization discourse;
•the socio-economic and/or budgetary problems pressure;
•the institutional/State/administrative tradition and ‘legacies’;
•and policy goals and interests of the political and administrative e
´lites.
In pursuance of its explicitly historical (over time) approach the article will
distinguish four stages.
In the first section, some basic features of Germany’s local government
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