Back to Bureaucracy? The Advent of the Neo-Weberian State in Germany

Abstract

In this contribution, the emergence of the Neo-Weberian State (NWS) is analyzed with regard to the German public administration. Drawing on the concept of a “governance space” which consists of hierarchy, markets and networks, we make a distinction between four empirical manifestations of the of NWS, namely NWS as (1) Come back of the public/re-municipalization; (2) re-hierarchization; (3) de-agencification; (4) de-escalation in performance management. These movements can on the one hand be interpreted as (partial) reversal of NPM approaches and a ‘swinging back of the pendulum’ (see XX & YY, 2019) towards the public and classical Weberian principles (e.g. hierarchy, regulation, institutional re-aggregation). This resulted in a re-strengthening of hierarchy within the overall “governance space” to the detriment of market mechanisms and networks without completely replacing the last two mentioned. As the NPM has not delivered what it promised and does not appear as an appropriate response to more recent challenges connected to crises and wicked problems, a partial “return of the public” and a move away from the economisation logic of NPM have been observed. On the other hand, and connected to this, Post-NPM reversals and managerial “de-escalation” gave way to hybrid models merging NPM and classic Weberian administration. While there are some well-functioning mixtures of NPM and Weberianism, the hybridization of “old” and “neo” elements has also provoked ambivalent and rather negative assessments regarding the actual functioning of NWS in Germany. For reform practices and future administrative modernization, it can be deduced from our analysis that the NWS is only partially suitable as a model for reforms, largely depending on the context of reform and implementation practices.