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Top bureaucrats and Politicians : Continuity or Change in Attributes, Attitudes, and Role Understanding? Findings from Germany
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2010-04-07
Author(s)
Abstract
The German Federal Government's political-administrative elite is still characterized as mainly male and from the middle-class, stemming especially from families with bureaucratic backgrounds. Supposedly they are predominantly academic persons with the majority having a degree in law (monopoly of jurists). Those statements though, still rely on empirical data resulting from a study which was conducted for Germany within the Comparative Elite Studies II (CES) in 1987, which itself was a replication of the CES in 1970. The political-administrative elite was analyzed by Renate Mayntz and Hans-Ulrich Derlien. They interviewed members of the political-administrative elite about their values, attitudes and role understanding. Those over 20 year old data still are the basis for recent elite studies.
However, during this period many changes have taken place in Germany. The reunification as well as a tendency towards more Europeanization and globalization exerted influence on the political-administrative system. Earmarking for this change are the growing serious public, state and academic discussions concerning administrative modernization, which took place over the past decades. Besides this reorganization of the political-administrative system, society in itself also developed. Therefore, we can assume, that the political-administrative elite itself has changed in the course of time concerning its constitution, attitude and role understanding.
To shed light on and to close the gap in knowledge, this paper is dedicated to the question as to whether the political-administrative elite has changed in its attributes, attitudes and role understandings, by conducting a replication of the Comparative Elite Studies. To answer the research questions data from two surveys will be analyzed. The two surveys are the PAE 2005 conducted by Katja Schwanke and Falk Ebinger (a replication of the comparative elite studies CES II in 1987) and the PALe 2007 conducted by Katja Schwanke and Steffen Eckhard. The former is surveying the federal political and administrative elite (PAE) in 2005, the later is a replication for two German Länder (Bavaria and Hesse) (PALe) in 2007. One achievement of this paper is to provide an updated empirical data basis for further scientific research.
To anticipate the main conclusion, continuity more than change can be verified. In general, attributes, values and especially the role understanding of politicians and bureaucrats did not change fundamentally in recent years. This trite result starts only to surprise in comparison with executed changes within the german political-administrative system.
However, during this period many changes have taken place in Germany. The reunification as well as a tendency towards more Europeanization and globalization exerted influence on the political-administrative system. Earmarking for this change are the growing serious public, state and academic discussions concerning administrative modernization, which took place over the past decades. Besides this reorganization of the political-administrative system, society in itself also developed. Therefore, we can assume, that the political-administrative elite itself has changed in the course of time concerning its constitution, attitude and role understanding.
To shed light on and to close the gap in knowledge, this paper is dedicated to the question as to whether the political-administrative elite has changed in its attributes, attitudes and role understandings, by conducting a replication of the Comparative Elite Studies. To answer the research questions data from two surveys will be analyzed. The two surveys are the PAE 2005 conducted by Katja Schwanke and Falk Ebinger (a replication of the comparative elite studies CES II in 1987) and the PALe 2007 conducted by Katja Schwanke and Steffen Eckhard. The former is surveying the federal political and administrative elite (PAE) in 2005, the later is a replication for two German Länder (Bavaria and Hesse) (PALe) in 2007. One achievement of this paper is to provide an updated empirical data basis for further scientific research.
To anticipate the main conclusion, continuity more than change can be verified. In general, attributes, values and especially the role understanding of politicians and bureaucrats did not change fundamentally in recent years. This trite result starts only to surprise in comparison with executed changes within the german political-administrative system.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Book title
The Crisis: Challenges for Public Management
Publisher
IRSPM University of Berne
Publisher place
Berne
Start page
20
Event Title
14th Annual Conference of the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM XIV)
Event Location
Bern
Event Date
07.-09.04.2010
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
61867