Course Contents
Students who have taken this course
• are familiar with the structure, basic principles and organisational principles of public service in Germany;
• have mastered basic analytical concepts of administrative comparison and can apply them to comparisons with neighbouring public service systems in Europe;
• are familiar with current challenges and reform debates surrounding the public service;
• can analyse system components or reform proposals on the basis of empirical knowledge about Germany and conceptual comparative considerations.
Literature
Bull, Hans Peter (2006): Vom Staatsdiener zum öffentlichen Dienstleister: zur Zukunft des Dienstrechts. Berlin: Edition Sigma.
Demmke, Christoph & Timo Moilanen (2010): Civil Services in the EU of 27: Reform Outcomes and the Future of the Civil Service. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, Peter, Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften.
Hebeler, Timo (2008): Verwaltungspersonal. Eine rechts-und verwaltungswissenschaftliche Strukturierung. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft.
Van der Meer, Frits M. (2011): Civil service systems in Western Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.S.
Preconditions
- Reading and processing English-language scientific texts
- Prior knowledge of administrative science at BA level
- Prior knowledge of political science at BA level
- Basic knowledge of descriptive and inferential statistics
Expected Number of Participants
20
Official Course Description
With around 4 million employees, public services in Germany are among the largest employers. Around 11% of all people in employment in Germany work in the public sector, as civil servants or employees, at federal, state, local or social security level. The people who work in public administration shape the face of “the administration” towards citizens who come into contact with the administration as customers, service recipients or subjects. Reason enough, then, to take a closer look at this amorphous body of “public service”.
In addition, public services are facing major challenges in view of the increasing shortage of qualified workers due to demographic change, which puts the public sector in fierce competition with the private sector as a consumer of labour. How can the public sector strengthen its attractiveness as an employer in order to remain or become competitive? How can it optimise its human resources management, given limited public funds, most of which are already spent on personnel and pension costs? The range of tasks is also changing with the demands placed on the public sector – customer friendliness, citizen participation, integration – how can these goals be reconciled with a traditionally bureaucratic and hierarchical process organisation?
This seminar will begin by teaching the basic structures of public service (quantitative description, organisational principles, legal foundations, salary structure) before examining recent reforms in light of current challenges. In the second part of the seminar, Germany will be contrasted with a very different system of public service organisation in light of current events – we will observe the latest developments in the USA and discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of system components.
- Lecturer: Nathalie Behnke