Regierungskonstellationen und die Politisierung der Ministerialbürokratie in den deutschen Bundesländern

Here you can download the final project report (in German).

In Germany, top administrative positions in federal and state ministries are staffed by “political civil servants” (PCS). For the recruitment of PCS, personal and party political affiliation are legitimate criteria. A common concern, however, is that patronage due to personal loyalty and party politics may undermine both the competence and professional expertise of the ministerial bureaucracy.

Whereas the selection of PCS at federal level in Germany has been subject to several research projects over the last three decades, the state level is almost completely unexplored. It remains widely unknown how important party ties are for the selection of PCS in state ministries, and whether there are any differences between the states or between the state and federal level.

The research project “Government Constellations and the Politicization of the Ministerial Bureaucracy” funded by the Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung for the period of 2015 to 2018 aimed at amending this research gap. Two forms of politicization were central to the project. First, the project investigated the phenomenon of party politicization which emphasizes the importance of party-political ties for the recruitment of PCS. Second, the project looked at the phenomenon of hybridization of the political and the administrative sphere The concept of hybridization concerns the question whether top politicians and PCS have clearly distinctive career or whether their careers align.

The project found two main causes for the different extent of politicization of PCS in the German states. First, we found an influence of the type of government constellation under which a PCS is recruited. PCS recruited under ‘new’ government constellations which had not formed a coalition in this state or at federal level over the last 25 years, PCS are more often politicized: PCS recruited under these circumstances have had more often a professional career in politics before taking up the administrative top position. Second, we found considerable differences between East and West German states. In the East German states, PCS tend to have less experience in politics and are more rarely member of a political party. We trace this result back to the political ‘heritage’ of the East German states that were formerly a part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

Regarding hybridization, previous studies investigating the careers of government politicians and PCS at federal level found noticeable differences between the two groups, suggesting only low tendencies towards the hybridization of careers. Our findings, however, show that the career patterns of government politicians and PCS are indeed more often similar, suggesting an unexpectedly high degree of hybridization at the state level. In the German states, we can see a surprisingly high share of career changers without long-standing experience in public administration reaching a position in the administrative elite.   

• Veit, S., Hustedt, T. and Bach, T., 2016. Dynamics of change in internal policy advisory systems: the hybridization of advisory capacities in Germany. In: Policy Sciences 50 (1): 85-103.
• Vedder, S. and Veit, S. 2017. Politische Kultur und Parteipolitisierung von Verwaltungseliten in den alten und neuen Bundesländern. In: der moderne Staat 10 (1), 153-168.
• Bach, T. and Veit, S., 2017. The Determinants of Promotion to High Public Office in Germany: Partisan Loyalty, Political Craft, or Managerial Competencies? In: Journal of Adminstrative Research and Theory 66 (2): 254-269.
• Veit, S., 2019. Career Patterns in Administrations. In: Peters, B. Guy and Thynne, Ian, eds. Oxford Encyclopedia of Public Administration. Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming).

• Vedder, S., Veit, S., Shifting Challenges: Government Constellations and the Selection of Top Civil Servants. ECPR General Conference. Hamburg, 23. August 2018.
• Vedder, S., Reactions to Crises: Elite Recruitment and the 'Glass Cliff'. IPSA World Congress of Political Science. Brisbane (Australia), 23. July 2018.
• Jann, W., Politicians and Public Servants in Germany. Canadian Certificate Program in Public Sector Leadership and Governance. Berlin. 09 April 2018.
• Veit, S., Politicization of Bureaucracy: Empirial Manifestations, Causes and Consequences. Lecture at the School of Government of the Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). March 2018
• Vedder, S., Rekrutierungsmuster und Karriereverläufe von Regierungsmitgliedern. Research colloquium "70 Jahre Rheinland-Pfalz: Historische Betrachtung und politikwissenschaftliche Analyse", Mainz, 21-23 June 2017.
• Vedder, S., Erwartungen der Öffentlichkeit in Krisenzeiten: Die Ernennung von Ministern und Spitzenbeamten als Signal. FoJuS Annual Conference, Potsdam, 24 May 2017.
• Vedder, S., Analyzing biographical Data of Administrative and Political Elites in Germany. Careers and Roles of Senior Officials and Political Appointees in Comparative Perspective. Oslo (Norway), 19 April 2016.
• Vedder, S., Regierungskonstellationen und Personalrekrutierung: Eine Analyse der Karrierehintergründe von Regierungspolitikerinnen und -politikern in Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Sachsen und Thüringen 1991-2016. Presentation at the conference of the DVPW Section Regierungssystem und Regieren in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Schwäbisch Gmünd, 17-18 November 2016.
• Scholz, S. and Vedder, S., Hybrid Elites – Career Patterns of Politicians and Top Civil Servants on Federal and Regional Levels. Presentation at the 24th World Congress of Political Science, Poznan (Poland), 23-28 July 2016.

For further information, questions or remarks, please contact Prof. Dr. Sylvia Veit or Stefanie Vedder.

Team

• Prof. Dr. Sylvia Veit
• Prof. Dr. Werner Jann, University of Potsdam
• Stefanie Vedder, M.A.
• Fabiana Heidrich
• Dennis Häuser

Duration
November 2015 to October 2018