The team of this working group investigates, how administrations shape policy-making. One focus is the practice of multi-level governance, in the sense of relations of coordination, of negotiation and of in part hierarchical interaction between administrations at different levels of government and of different territorial units. This perspective guides our research on intergovernmental relations in federal states – among sub-state units, among local authorities as well as in vertical direction across levels (Nathalie Behnke ); on fiscal surveillance between sub-state units and their local authorities (Christian Person ); and on coordination of sustainable local development policies between cities, municipalities, counties and the sub-state (Svenja Bauer-Blaschkowski ).

A second focus is on taxes and public finance, in particular on fiscal relations in multilevel states; on fiscal inequalities and equalization systems of tax revenues of sub-states and local authorities; and on strategies of political governance by way of grants-in-aid.

A third focus is on motivation and strategic action of administrative elites. How clearly are the spheres of politics and administration demarcated, where do they overlap and how is this mirrored in career paths, role perceptions and everyday work of leading public officials? And how (to which extent and along which paths) can the administrative elite influence executive decision-making?