Municipalities in the Federal Republic of Germany – Progress and Current Situation

Abstract

Researching the organization and functioning of public administration, especially self-government, is currently not a key topic of interest among most political scientists. This is why we will try to describe the public administration system in the Federal Republic of Germany in the following article. It will consider the principles on which the German public administration is based and how its second subsystem – municipal authorities – function in relation to the national state administration.Politics as a science offers interesting opportunities and resources for analyses of the way public administration functions. Aspects of the political science of public administration are important in understanding all the connections with public administration. The German example is not typical because there are various types and forms of municipal organization. Due to historical experience and evolution, four basic types of municipal organization developed in Germany, and they will be the main focus of our attention. We will deal with the specifi c features of municipal election systems, look at the variety of municipal political systems and the possibility of citizen involvement in the administration of public affairs. For political scientists public administration in Germany – its organization and function – is an interesting laboratory where we can study a progression which is very noteworthy. This article cannot explain all the subjects which are connected with this political phenomenon, but it will attempt to explain some of them.