Institut für Politikwissenschaft
At the chair 'Public Administration, Public Policy' we are concerned in research and teaching with the 'mechanics' of governing, and with power exercised 'from the second row'. For 'politics in its everyday work is administration ' (Max Weber).
Apply Now: Ten Doctoral Positions in the DFG Research Training Group “Standards of Governance” at TU Darmstadt and Goethe University Frankfurt
October 09, 2024
The DFG Research Training Group “Standards of Governance,” a joint project between Technische Universität Darmstadt and Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, is offering ten PhD positions starting on April 1, 2025. Five positions are based at TU Darmstadt and five at Goethe University Frankfurt.
Paper Presentation at the ECPR General Conference in Dublin
August 22, 2024
At this year’s ECPR General Conference in Dublin, held from August 12th to 15th, Jonas Bernhard presented an excerpt from his dissertation project. The paper titled “When local governments win (and when they lose): Conditions for successful intergovernmental lobbying in Germany” was discussed in the panel “Coalitions and Networks: How interest groups collaborate horizontally and vertically”.
Urlaub Prof. Behnke
July 29, 2024
Prof. Behnke is in vacation from August 04 to 14 and from Augst 23 to September 04. Please consider to send requests at least three days in advance if you wish them to be answered before Prof. Behnke leaves for her vacation.
New publication: „Kommunale Autonomie und Demokratie vor aktuellen Herausforderungen“ („Local autonomy and democracy in the face of current challenges“
June 05, 2024
Special edition of ‚Der Landkreis‘ (Vol, 94, May 2024) on „75 Jahre Grundgesetz. Stärkung des gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalts und der kulturellen Infrastruktur in den Landkreisen“ (75 years of Basic Law. Strengthening societal coherence and cultural infrastructure in the counties“
2. Annual Conference of the COST-Action 20123 ‚Intergovernmental Coordination from Local to European Governance (IGCOORD)’ on “Vertical and Horizontal Coordination: Tools, Mechanisms, and Barriers to Solving Complex Policy Issues”, on 13. and 14. June 202
June 05, 2024
In 13 panels altogether, about 60 scholars from all over Europe are going to present their research on horizontal and vertical coordination in multilevel governance. The discussions and insights of the COST network in general and of the conference in particular are essential for the further development of European Governance.
Lecture “Businesses as Standard-Takers and Standard-Makers in Human Rights: The Pluralization of Governance Authority”
May 13, 2024
At the chair we investigate administrative coordination processes in policy-making and in multi-level systems. Besides comparative studies, our main focus is on administrations in the German multi-level system – from local level to Länder and federal levels up to the EU. Concomitantly, we take on a theoretical perspective of 'multi-level governance'.
Beside the federal distribution of powers and public service personnel, public finances are a major research theme in our group. These are external factors for administrative work. Also, we analyse coordination processes within and between administrations as well as across levels of government as crucial 'internal' conditions for effective administrative work. Finally, we investigate conditions and processes of local policy implementation in various policy fields.
We teach various courses in the BA- and MA programmes of the Institute of Political Science. Among those are an introductory lecture on Public Administration, introductory seminars on Public Policy as well as advanced seminars on governance, government, local administration and finances, public service and multi-level governance. On those topics, we supervise theses at BA, MA and PhD levels.