TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Hellstrom, Mikael A1 - Ramberg, Ulf A1 - Reiter, Renate T1 - Tracing divergence in crisis governance BT - responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Germany and Sweden compared JF - International review of administrative sciences : an international journal of comparative public administration N2 - This cross-country comparison of administrative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, Germany and Sweden is aimed at exploring how institutional contexts and administrative cultures have shaped strategies of problem-solving and governance modes during the pandemic, and to what extent the crisis has been used for opportunity management. The article shows that in France, the central government reacted determinedly and hierarchically, with tough containment measures. By contrast, the response in Germany was characterized by an initial bottom-up approach that gave way to remarkable federal unity in the further course of the crisis, followed again by a return to regional variance and local discretion. In Sweden, there was a continuation of 'normal governance' and a strategy of relying on voluntary compliance largely based on recommendations and less - as in Germany and France - on a strategy of imposing legally binding regulations. The comparative analysis also reveals that relevant stakeholders in all three countries have used the crisis as an opportunity for changes in the institutional settings and administrative procedures. Points for practitioners COVID-19 has shown that national political and administrative standard operating procedures in preparation for crises are, at best, partially helpful. Notwithstanding the fact that dealing with the unpredictable is a necessary part of crisis management, a need to further improve the institutional preparedness for pandemic crises in all three countries examined here has also become clear. This should be done particularly by way of shifting resources to the health and care sectors, strengthening the decentralized management of health emergencies, stocking and/or self-producing protection material, assessing the effects of crisis measures, and opening the scientific discourse to broader arenas of experts. KW - administrative culture KW - containment KW - crisis KW - governance KW - multi-level system KW - policy advice KW - public health KW - window of opportunity Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852320979359 SN - 0020-8523 SN - 1461-7226 VL - 87 IS - 3 SP - 556 EP - 575 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Bogumil, Jörg A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Heuberger, Moritz A1 - Marienfeldt, Justine T1 - Bürgernahe Verwaltung digital? I-Kfz und digitaler Kombiantrag BT - Elternleistung im Praxistest T3 - FES Diskurs Y1 - 2022 UR - https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/a-p-b/19351.pdf SN - 978-3-98628-187-8 PB - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung CY - Bonn ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bogumil, Jörg A1 - Holtkamp, Lars A1 - Kißler, Leo A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Reichard, Christoph A1 - Schneider, Karsten A1 - Wollmann, Hellmut T1 - Konsequenzen aus der Evaluation des neune Steuerungsmodells Y1 - 2007 SN - 978-3-8360-7230-0 ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Bogumil, Jörg A1 - Holtkamp, Lars A1 - Kißler, Leo A1 - Reichard, Christoph A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Schneider, Karsten A1 - Wollmann, Hellmut ED - Bogumil, Jörg T1 - Perspektiven kommunaler Verwaltungsmodernisierung : Praxiskonsequenzen aus dem neuen Steuerungsmodell T3 - Modernisierung des öffentlichen Sektors Y1 - 2007 SN - 978-3-8360-7230-4 SN - 0945-1072 VL - 30 PB - Ed. Sigma CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Proeller, Isabella A1 - Schiemanke, Dieter A1 - Ziekow, Jan T1 - German Public Administration BT - Background and Key Issues JF - Public Administration in Germany N2 - 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. Y1 - 2021 SN - 978-3-030-53696-1 SN - 978-3-030-53697-8 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53697-8_1 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Palgrave Macmillan CY - Cham ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Seyfried, Markus ED - Vigoda-Gadot, Eran ED - Vashdi, Dana R. T1 - Comparative methods B BT - comparative methods in public administration – the value of looking around T2 - Handbook of research methods in public administration, management and policy N2 - This chapter outlines the relevance and value of comparative approaches and methods in studying Public Administration (PA). It discusses the roots and current developments of comparative research in PA and discusses various methodological venues for cross-country comparisons, such as most similar/dissimilar systems designs, the method of concomitant variation and the difference-in-difference method. Besides the description of these approaches, we highlight their conceptual value for theory-driven empirical comparative research. Drawing on selected pieces of comparative research, the chapter furthermore provides examples for the application of comparative methods in practice presenting empirical findings and highlighting strengths and weaknesses. The chapter finally emphasizes that the methodological development in comparative PA research has by far not yet reached its end, and that some future challenges need to be addressed, such as the issues of causality, generalizability, and mixed-methods approaches. Y1 - 2020 SN - 978-1-78990-347-8 SN - 978-1-78990-348-5 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789903485.00017 SP - 181 EP - 196 PB - Edward Elgar Publishing CY - Cheltenham, UK ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bergström, Tomas A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Laffin, Martin A1 - Wayenberg, Ellen T1 - Special issue on comparative intergovernmental relations and the pandemic BT - how European devolved governments responded to a public health crisis JF - Local government studies N2 - This introduction and the special issue are a contribution to comparative intergovernmental studies and public administration. This introduction provides an analytical overview of the intergovernmental relations policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic across ten European countries, focussing on the early waves of the disease. These policy responses are analysed in terms of three types of IGR process: (1) a predominantly multi-layered policy process involving limited conflict, (2) a centralised policy process as the central government attempts to suppress conflict and (3) a conflicted policy process where such attempts are contested and tend to contribute to poor policy outcomes. The conclusion, then, reviews the difficulties and trade-offs involved in attaining a balanced multi-layered, intergovernmental process. KW - intergovernmental relations KW - pandemic comparative KW - government comparative KW - public policy Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2022.2039636 SN - 0300-3930 SN - 1743-9388 VL - 48 IS - 2 SP - 179 EP - 190 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jann, Werner A1 - Bogumil, Jörg A1 - Bouckaert, Geert A1 - Budäus, Dietrich A1 - Holtkamp, Lars A1 - Kißler, Leo A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Mezger, Erika A1 - Reichard, Christoph A1 - Wollmann, Hellmut T1 - Status-Report Verwaltungsreform : eine Zwischenbilanz nach zehn Jahren JF - Modernisierung des öffentlichen Sektors Y1 - 2004 SN - 3-89404-744-5 VL - 24 PB - Ed. Sigma CY - Berlin ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine T1 - Bessere Verwaltung durch Dezentralisierung? Eine ländervergleichende Analyse institutioneller Reformeffekte T2 - Leidenschaft und Augenmaß : sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf Entwicklung, Verwaltung, Umwelt und Klima : Festschrift für Harald Fuhr Y1 - 2020 SN - 978-3-8487-5249-2 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5771/9783845294292-39 SP - 39 EP - 57 PB - Nomos CY - Bade-Baden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Franzke, Jochen A1 - Peters, Niklas A1 - Dumas, Benoît Paul T1 - Institutional designs and dynamics of crisis governance at the local level BT - European governments facing the polycrisis JF - Policy design and practice N2 - This article analyses the institutional design variants of local crisis governance responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and their entanglement with other locally impactful crises from a cross-country comparative perspective (France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the UK/England). The pandemic offers an excellent empirical lens for scrutinizing the phenomenon of polycrises governance because it occurred while European countries were struggling with the impacts of several prior, ongoing, or newly arrived crises. Our major focus is on institutional design variants of crisis governance (dependent variable) and the influence of different administrative cultures on it (independent variable). Furthermore, we analyze the entanglement and interaction of institutional responses to other (previous or parallel) crises (polycrisis dynamics). Our findings reveal a huge variance of institutional designs, largely evoked by country-specific administrative cultures and profiles. The degree of de-/centralization and the intensity of coordination or decoupling across levels of government differs significantly by country. Simultaneously, all countries were affected by interrelated and entangled crises, resulting in various patterns of polycrisis dynamics. While policy failures and “fatal remedies” from previous crises have partially impaired the resilience and crisis preparedness of local governments, we have also found some learning effects from previous crises. KW - polycrisis KW - pandemic KW - local government KW - intergovernmental relations KW - public administration KW - crisis management KW - Germany KW - France KW - Poland KW - Sweden KW - United Kingdom Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2024.2344784 SN - 2574-1292 SP - 1 EP - 21 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marienfeldt, Justine A1 - Kühler, Jakob A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Proeller, Isabella T1 - Kommunale Verwaltungsdigitalisierung im föderalen Kontext T1 - Local government digitalization in a federal context BT - ein europäischer Ländervergleich BT - a European country comparison JF - der moderne staat – Zeitschrift für Public Policy, Recht und Management N2 - Dieser Beitrag vergleicht die kommunale Verwaltungsdigitalisierung in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz (DACH-Länder) als Vertreter der kontinentaleuropäisch-föderalen Verwaltungstradition bei zugleich unterschiedlichen Digitalisierungsansätzen und -fortschritten. Basierend auf Interviews mit 22 Expert*innen und Beobachtungen in je einer Kommune pro Land sowie Dokumenten-, Literatur- und Sekundärdatenanalysen untersucht die Studie, wie Verwaltungsdigitalisierung im Mehrebenensystem organisiert ist und welche Rolle dabei das Verwaltungsprofil spielt sowie welche Innovationsschwerpunkte die Kommunen im Hinblick auf die Leistungserbringung und die internen Prozesse setzen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der hohe Grad lokaler Autonomie den Kommunen ermöglicht, eigene Akzente in der Verwaltungsdigitalisierung zu setzen. Zugleich wirken die stark verflochtenen komplexen Entscheidungsstrukturen und hohen Koordinationsbedarfe in verwaltungsföderalen Systemen, die in Deutschland am stärksten, in Österreich etwas schwächer und in der Schweiz am geringsten ausgeprägt sind, als Digitalisierungshemmnisse. Ferner weisen die Befunde auf eine unitarisierende Wirkung der Verwaltungsdigitalisierung als Reformbereich hin. Insgesamt trägt die Studie zu einem besseren Verständnis dafür bei, welche Problematik die Verwaltungsdigitalisierung für föderal-dezentrale Verwaltungsmodelle mit sich bringt. N2 - This article compares the digitalization of local government in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH countries) as representatives of the continental European federal administrative tradition, but with different approaches to and progress in digitalization. Based on interviews with 22 experts and observations in one municipality per country as well as document, literature and secondary data analyses, the study examines how administrative digitalization is organized in the multi-level system and what role the administrative profile plays in this, as well as what innovation priorities the municipalities set with regard to service provision and internal processes. The results show that the high degree of local autonomy enables the municipalities to set their own innovation priorities. Simultaneously, the highly intertwined complex decision-making structures and need for coordination in federal administrative systems, which are most pronounced in Germany, somewhat weaker in Austria and least pronounced in Switzerland, act as barriers to digitalization. Furthermore, the findings point to a unitarizing effect of administrative digitalization as an area of reform. Overall, the study contributes to a better understanding of the problems that administrative digitalization poses for federal-decentralized administrative systems. KW - digitalization KW - administrative reform KW - local government KW - DACH countries KW - comparative case study KW - Digitalisierung KW - Verwaltungsreform KW - Kommunen KW - DACH-Länder KW - Vergleich Y1 - 2024 UR - https://www.wiso-net.de/document/DMS__98bb1422067fd8d5bd11f47f8f2651fab936d2ce U6 - https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v17i1.03 SN - 1865-7192 SN - 2196-1395 VL - 17 IS - 1 SP - 35 EP - 59 PB - Verlag Barbara Budrich CY - Leverkusen-Opladen ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Franzke, Jochen A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine T1 - German local authorities coping with the Covid-19 pandemic BT - capacities and autonomy under stress T2 - L’ administration locale face à la crise sanitaire Y1 - 2021 SN - 9782281134964 SN - 9782281134957 SP - 257 EP - 272 PB - Éditions Le Moniteur CY - Antony ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Dumas, Benoît Paul A1 - Heuberger, Moritz T1 - The capacity of local governments in Europe BT - autonomy,responsibilities and reforms N2 - This book compares local self-government in Europe. It examines local institutional structures, autonomy, and capacities in six selected countries - France, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, and the United Kingdom - each of which represents a typical model of European local government. Within Europe, an overall trend towards more local government capacities and autonomy can be identified, but there are also some counter tendencies to this trend and major differences regarding local politico-administrative settings, functional responsibilities, and resources. The book demonstrates that a certain degree of local financial autonomy and fiscal discretion is necessary for effective service provision. Furthermore, a robust local organization, viable territorial structures, a professional public service, strong local leadership, and well-functioning tools of democratic participation are key aspects for local governments to effectively fulfill their tasks and ensure political accountability. The book will appeal to students and scholars of Public Administration and Public Management, as well as practitioners and policy-makers at different levels of government, in public enterprises, and in NGOs. KW - local government KW - public sector reform KW - Europe KW - local autonomy KW - self-governance KW - new public management Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-3-031-07961-0 SN - 978-3-031-07962-7 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07962-7 SP - 7 EP - 55 PB - Palgrave Macmillan CY - Cham ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine A1 - Oehlert, Franziska A1 - Reusch, Marie Catherine ED - Gesemann, Frank ED - Filsinger, Dieter ED - Münch, Sybille T1 - Verwaltungsverflechtungen in der Flüchtlingsintegration BT - ein Vergleich zwischen Deutschland, Schweden und Frankreich T2 - Handbuch lokale Integrationspolitik N2 - Am Beispiel von Flüchtlingsintegration werden institutionelle Entwicklungen im Mehrebenensystem aus einer länderübergreifenden Perspektive analysiert. Insgesamt hat der Grad der Verwaltungsverflechtung und vertikalen Koordination in diesem Bereich zugenommen und die Rolle der Kommunen wurde – ungeachtet unterschiedlicher Ausprägungen der (De-)Zentralisierung – gestärkt. Während die starke fluchtbedingte Zuwanderung als äußerer Faktor dieser Entwicklung Vorschub geleistet hat, nehmen historische Pfadabhängigkeiten und die jeweiligen Verwaltungskulturen nach wie vor erheblichen Einfluss auf die genannten Entwicklungen. KW - Verwaltungsverflechtung KW - Koordination KW - Integration KW - Neo-Institutionalismus KW - Mehrebenensystem Y1 - 2024 SN - 978-3-658-43195-2 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-43195-2_55-1 N1 - Teil eines "Living reference work entry" SP - 1 EP - 20 PB - Springer CY - Wiesbaden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marienfeldt, Justine A1 - Wehmeier, Liz Marla A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine T1 - Top-down or bottom-up digital transformation? BT - a comparison of institutional changes and outcomes JF - Public money & management N2 - This article analyses incremental institutional change and subsequent organizational and performance outcomes of the digital transformation from a comparative perspective. Through 31 expert interviews, the authors compare two digitalized public services in Germany. Two digitalization approaches are identified. The voluntary, decentralized bottom-up approach involves layering of new rules, limited organizational restructuring, and performance deficits. Conversely, the compulsory, top-down approach with centralized control facilitates displacement of existing rules and far-reaching organizational change; in this study, it is also associated with improved performance. KW - bottom-up KW - digital transformation KW - electronic tax returns KW - Germany KW - institutional change KW - performance KW - vehicle registration KW - top-down Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2024.2365351 SN - 0954-0962 SN - 1467-9302 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - Abingdon ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Oehlert, Franziska A1 - Kuhlmann, Sabine ED - Kuhlmann, Sabine ED - Laffin, Martin ED - Wayenberg, Ellen ED - Bergström, Tomas T1 - Inter-administrative relations in migrant integration BT - France, Germany, and Sweden compared T2 - New perspectives on intergovernmental relations N2 - Migrant integration is a prime example of intergovernmental coordination and multilevel governance; first because no level of government can carry out this task alone, and second because its cross-cutting nature often leads to fragmented institutional structures that must be overcome. Within the research strand of intergovernmental relations (IGR), the focus has been on executive actors and governmental decision-makers, resulting in an underexposure of the role of public administration, known as inter-administrative relations (IAR). Against this backdrop, we aim to remedy some of the deficits in IGR research by (1) adopting an explicit IAR perspective which systematically addresses the role of local governments; (2) including a comparative dimension in IAR research that accounts for different administrative ‘starting conditions’ in European countries; and (3) using the policy area of migrant integration as a case in point to empirically investigate developments of institutional convergence and divergence in IAR patterns. It is argued that the coordination of migrant integration in the three countries examined has moved towards more intergovernmental coordination, on the one hand, and that the role of municipalities in this context has been enhanced—varying degrees of (de-)centralization notwithstanding. While certain convergent patterns of inter-governmental coordination have become apparent during the migration crisis, historical path dependencies and administrative cultures still appear to be factors that influence institutional development. KW - inter-administrative relations KW - coordination KW - migrant integration KW - neo-institutionalism Y1 - 2024 SN - 978-3-031-61789-8 SN - 978-3-031-61790-4 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-61790-4_5 SP - 77 EP - 101 PB - Palgrave Macmillan CY - Cham ER -