The Global Administrative Order Through a German Lens: Perception and Influence of Legal Structures of Global Governance in Germany

Abstract

This article examines to what extent and how German administrative law and organisation have been changed by globalization, as well as the increasing reach and depth of global governance. A first chapter analyzes the legal discourse in Germany and finds that international (more than global) administrative law has become a major topic. It points to three different strands in German scholarship and highlights especially the proposal to conceptualize global governance as an exercise of international public authority. In a second step, the article examines three specific fields of law (environment, health and financial services) and analyzes how national administrative and legal structures have been influenced by globalization. In particular, it inquires what instruments of standard setting and forms of implementation have been used. Finally, the article acknowledges that globalization has had a tremendous effect on German administrative law, and describes seven instrumental and substantive modes of the effect of international rules on the German legal order.