Digital Transformation of the German State

Digital transformation of the German public sector is embedded in a large-scale reform focussing on digitalisation and de-bureaucratisation of public services. By 2022, 575 public services will have been digitised. Digitalisation is, however, a contested topic in Germany: modernisation efforts have been stalled resulting in backlogs and the delay of IT consolidation of outdated legacy systems. At the same time, however, innovation pockets are emerging across all levels of government. The chapter first provides an overview of the legal basis of digital transformation, centralised and decentralised organisational embeddedness of administrative responsibilities and then highlights insights into selected implementation cases.

Transformation of Public Administration in East Germany Following Unification

After 1990, the rupture of the politico-administrative system and transformation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was essentially shaped by the process of German unification and the GDR’s integration into the ‘old’ Federal Republic. Thus, basic constitutional and institutional issues, such as legal rule (Rechtsstaat)-based administration, inclusion in the European Union, were (‘exogenously’) pre-determined by the GDR’s accession to the ‘old’ Federal Republic. The chapter highlights East Germany’s politico-administrative transformation after 1990 by addressing the organisational and personnel dimensions of the remoulding and rebuilding of the administrative structures at the new Länder and local levels. Finally, notwithstanding the particularities of the ‘East German case’, it raises question whether there are lessons which other countries facing transition or transformation can draw from East Germany’s experience.

German Public Administration: Background and Key Issues

The international community of public administration and administrative sciences shows a great interest in the basic features of the German administrative system. The German public administration with its formative decentralisation (called: administrative federalism) is regarded as a prime example of multilevel governance and strong local self-government. Furthermore, over the past decades, the traditional profile of the German administrative system has significantly been reshaped and remoulded through reforms, processes of modernisation and the transformation process in East Germany. Studies on the German administrative system should focus especially on key institutional features of public administration; changing relationships between public administration, society and the private sector; administrative reforms at different levels of the federal system; and new challenges and modernisation approaches, such as digitalisation, open government and better regulation. The publication is following this structure in four parts with 22 chapters.

Administrative Reforms in the Multilevel System: Reshuffling Tasks and Territories

The chapter analyses recent reforms in the multilevel system of the Länder, specifically territorial, functional and structural reforms, which represent three of the most crucial and closely interconnected reform trajectories at the subnational level. It sheds light on the variety of reform approaches pursued in the different Länder and also highlights some factors that account for these differences. The transfer of state functions to local governments is addressed as well as the restructuring of Länder administrations (e.g. abolishment of the meso level of the Länder administration and of single-purpose state agencies) and the rescaling of territorial boundaries at county and municipal levels, including a brief review of the recently failed (territorial) reforms in Eastern Germany.

Politics and Administration in Germany

Although German bureaucracy is typically categorised as Weberian, a clear distinction between politics and administration has never been a defining characteristic of the German political-administrative system. Many close interrelations and interactions between elected politicians and appointed civil servants can be observed at all levels of administration. Higher-ranking civil servants in Germany are used to and generally appreciate the functional politicisation of their jobs, that is their close involvement in all stages of the policy process, from policy formation, goal definition, negotiation within and outside government to the implementation and evaluation of policies. For top positions, therefore, a class of ‘political civil servants’ is a special feature of the German system, and obtaining ‘political craft’ has become an important part of the learning and job experience of higher-ranking civil servants.

Local Self-Government and Administration

This chapter describes the variety and levels of local self-government bodies in Germany. It portrays that local authorities (municipalities, cities and counties) are responsible for performing both their own tasks and large parts of federal and Land laws (the communal administrations and especially their so-called double head function: local self-government and lowest level of state administration). The local authorities mainly differentiate themselves from federal and regional authorities by the mandates of their elected representative bodies (municipal council, city council and county council). The head of a local administration (mayor or county commissioner) is also usually directly elected by the citizens.

Administrative Procedures and Processes

A process-oriented approach sees public administration as an interconnection of information, communications, interactions and decisions. It establishes the process organisation that shows the state ‘in action’ and complements the administrative and personnel side of public administration. While the term administrative processes can be understood as a generic term for this procedural side of the administration, according to the German understanding, procedures are processes with which the administration works towards citizens and companies and in which these face the administration with their own rights. Characteristic of these procedures vis-à-vis persons outside the administration is a high degree of juridification by administrative procedure law. The legal status of the citizen vis-à-vis the administration is very strong in Germany. In recent years, also influenced by New Public Management thought, great efforts have been made to optimise the procedural side of public administration. The chapter presents significant tools and approaches of this process thinking.

The Federal Ministerial Bureaucracy, the Legislative Process and Better Regulation

Over the last decades, Better Regulation has become a major reform topic at the federal and—in some cases—also at the Länder level. Although the debate about improving regulatory quality and reducing unnecessary burdens created by bureaucracy and red tape date back to the 1960s and 1970s, the introduction by law in 2006 of a new independent institutionalised body for regulatory control at the federal level of government has brought a new quality to the discourse and practice of Better Regulation in Germany. This chapter introduces the basic features of the legislative process at the federal level in Germany, addresses the issue of Better Regulation and outlines the role of the National Regulatory Control Council (Nationaler Normenkontrollrat—NKR) as a ‘watchdog’ for compliance costs, red tape and regulatory impacts.

Europeanisation and German Public Administration

This chapter discusses how public administration in Germany is influenced by the making and implementation of law by the organs of the European Union (EU). Although the public administrations of the EU Member States are, in principle, responsible for enforcing the laws made by the EU, the EU’s influence on the public administration of Germany as EU Member State is constantly growing. This is true, not only of those areas in which the Member States have transferred to the EU the authority to make laws, but increasingly also of those areas in which the Member States have retained such authority. At the same time, however, there is no systematic codification of the law on administrative procedures at European level and no system of legal remedy for Union citizens equivalent to those at national level.

Federal Administration

The federal administration is significantly small (around 10 percent of all public employees). This speciality of the German administrative system is based on the division of responsibilities: the central (federal) level drafts and adopts most of the laws and public programmes, and the state level (together with the municipal level) implements them. The administration of the federal level comprises the ministries, subordinated agencies for special and selected operational tasks (e.g. the authorisation of drugs, information security and registration of refugees) in distinct administrative sectors (e.g. foreign service, armed forces and federal police). The capacity for preparing and monitoring government bills and statutory instruments is well developed. Moreover, the instruments and tools of coordination are exemplary compared with other countries, although the recent digital turn has been adopted less advanced than elsewhere.