Politicization, Motivation, and Resistance in Germany’s Bureaucracy
Hauptsächlicher Artikelinhalt
Abstract
This study examines the factors that shape the resistance of German senior civil servants to undemocratic measures, focusing on the interplay of institutional, motivational and ideological influences. Using data from the 2025 Survey of Politico-Administrative Elites (PAE) in Germany and structural equation modeling, the findings reveal that public service motivation (PSM) is the most significant predictor of resistance, alongside progressive political orientations. Functional politicization plays an ambivalent role, reducing resistance in some contexts while also fostering PSM, with its effects conditioned by political ideology. This study makes a valuable contribution to resilience research by offering insights into the factors that shape civil servants’ resistance and, consequently, the resilience of public administration.
Keywords: functional politicization, populism, Public Service Motivation, top civil servants, resilience
Bibliography: Felgendreher, Nina (2026). Politicization, Motivation, and Resistance in Germany’s Bureaucracy. dms – der moderne staat – Zeitschrift für Public Policy, Recht und Management, 19(1-2026), 78-97.
Artikel-Details
Literatur
Aberbach, J., Putnam, R., & Rockman, B. (1981). Bureaucrats and Politicians in Western Democracies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvjz82fv
Alon-Barkat, S., Gilad, S., Kosti, N., & Shpaizman, I. (2025). Career Civil Servants’ Socially Embedded Responses to Democratic Backsliding. Perspectives on Politics, 1 - 20. https://doi.org/10.1017/S153759272500074X
Appleby, P. H. (1949). Policy and Administration. University of Alabama Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/1950246
Bach, T. (2025). The functional politicisation of the merit civil service: From responsive to subservient bureaucracy?. Futures for the Public Sector, 309 - 322. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.21594840.22
Bauer, M.W., & Becker, S. (2020). Democratic Backsliding, Populism, and Public Administration. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 3(1), 19 - 31. https://doi.org/10.1093/ppmgov/gvz026
Bauer, M.W., Peters, B. G., & Pierre, J. (2021). Pathways to administrative resilience: public bureaucracies ruled by democratic backsliders as a transnational challenge. STG Policy Analysis. https://hdl.handle.net/1814/70344
Bauer, M.W., Peters, B. G., Pierre, J., Yesilkagit, K., & Becker, S. (Eds.). (2021). Democratic Backsliding and Public Administration: How Populists in Government Transform State Bureaucracies. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009023504
Bauer, M.W. (2024), Administrative responses to democratic backsliding: When is bureaucratic resistance justified?. Regulation & Governance, 18, 1104 - 1117. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12567
Bellodi, L., Morelli, M. & Vannoni, M. (2024). A Costly Commitment: Populism, Economic Performance, and the Quality of Bureaucracy. American Journal of Political Science, 68, 193 - 209. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12782
Beneke, J. T., Döhler, M., Ebinger, F. & Veit, S. (2023). 50 Jahre Forschungsprojekt‚ Politisch-Administrative Elite. dms – der moderne staat, 16(1), 255 - 265. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.vXiX.278524
Bischoff, C. S. (2023). Between a rock and a hard place: Balancing the duties of political responsiveness and legality in the civil service. Public Administration, 101(4), 1481 - 1502. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12898
Brehm, J. O., & Gates, S. (1999). Working, shirking, and sabotage: Bureaucratic response to a democratic public. University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.15149
Classen, C. (2025). The civil service in Germany: A service based on mutual loyalty. In K. P. Sommermann, A. Krzywoń, & C. Fraenkel-Haeberle (Eds.), Handbook of civil service in Europe (pp. 163 - 183). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003458333-11
Cohen, N., & Duhl, R. (2025). Populism and political appointments. Public Administration Review, 1 - 13. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70023
Cooper, C. A., & Reggie, J. (2025). Public Sector Employees’ Political Activity Across Administrative Traditions: Tensions Between Democratic Participation and Bureaucratic Impartiality in an Era of Populism and Democratic Backsliding. Public Administration Quarterly, 49(4), 253 - 277. https://doi.org/10.1177/07349149241310404
Cox, C. D. (2024). Leading with Dissent: Guerrilla Government and the Ethical Art of Disobedience. Public Management Review, 1 - 19. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2024.2315564
Cox, C. D. (2025). Systematic review and metasynthesis: Dissent and guerrilla government. Public Administration Review, 1 - 14. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70024.
Die Bundeswahlleiterin, Statistisches Bundesamt. (2025). Wahl zum 21. Deutschen Bundestag am 23. Februar 2025. Heft 4: Wahlbeteiligung und Stimmabgabe nach Geschlecht und Altersgruppen. Statistisches Bundesamt. https://share.google/zCiO97aW5LbxEe3Ko
Ebinger, F., & Schmitt, C. (2010). Alles eine Frage des Managements? Wie Autonomierechte die Handlungsfreiheit des administrativen Führungspersonals beeinflussen. Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 51(1), 69 - 93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11615-010-0002-3
Ebinger, F., Veit, S., & Fromm, N. (2019). The Partisan-Professional-Dichotomy revisited: Politicization and Decision-Making of Senior Civil Servants. Public Administration, 97, 861 - 876. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12613
Eichbaum, C., & Shaw, R. (2008). Revisiting politicization: Political advisers and public servants in Westminster systems. Governance, 21(3), 337 - 363. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2008.00403.x
Farrell, D. (1983). Exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect as responses to job dissatisfaction: A multidimensional scaling study. The Academy of Management Review, 26(4), 596 - 607. https://doi.org/10.2307/255909
Galego, D. & Nieto-Morales, F. (2024). Navigating Public Administration Reforms and Democracy: Toward a Neo-Weberian State in Mexico. Journal of Policy Studies, 39(2), 37 - 49.https://doi.org/10.52372/jps39204
Golden, M. M. (1992). Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect: Bureaucratic Responses to Presidential Control during the Reagan Administration. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory: J-PART, 2(1), 29 - 62. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1181869
Gomide, A., & Lotta, G. (2024). Building resilience, agility, and trust: The Neo-Weberian state as a referential model for Brazilian public administration. Journal of Policy Studies, 39(3), 45 - 55. https://doi.org/10.52372/jps39304
Greene, S. (2004), Social Identity Theory and Party Identification. Social Science Quarterly, 85, 136 - 153. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.08501010.x
Guedes-Neto, J. V., & Peters, G. B. (2021). Working, Shirking, and Sabotage in Times of Democratic Backsliding: An Experimental Study in Brazil. In M.W. Bauer, B. G. Peters, J. Pierre, K. Yesilkagit, & S. Becker (Eds.), Democratic Backsliding and Public Administration: How Populists in Government Transform State Bureaucracies (pp. 221 - 245). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009023504
Hildrum, E. (2017). Mellom lojalitet og servilitet. Stat & Styring, 27(3), 32 - 35. https://doi. org/10.18261/ISSN0809 - 750X-2017 - 03 - 10
Hirschman, A. O. (1970). Exit, voice, and loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states. Harvard University Press.
Hollibaugh, G. E., Jr., Miles, M. R. & Newswander, C. B. (2020). Why Public Employees Rebel: Guerrilla Government in the Public Sector. Public Administration Review, 80, 64 - 74. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13118
Huber, P. (2025). Ensuring the independence of the civil service. In K.-P. Sommermann, A. Krzywoń, & C. Fraenkel-Haeberle (Eds.), The civil service in Europe: A research companion (1st ed., pp. 463 - 478). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003458333-28
Ingber, R. (2018). Bureaucratic resistance and the national security state. Iowa Law Review, 104, 139 - 196. https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/266
Jann, W., & Veit, S. (2021). Politics and Administration in Germany. In S. Kuhlmann, I. Proeller, D. Schimanke & J. Ziekow (eds.), Public Administration in Germany. Governance and Public Management (pp. 145–161). Palgrave Macmillan.. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53697-8_10
Kim, S., & Vandenabeele, W. (2010). A strategy for building public service motivation research internationally. Public Administration Review, 70(5), 701 - 709. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2010.02198.x
Kim, S., Vandenabeele, W., Wright, B. E., Andersen, L. B., Cerase, F. P., Christensen, R. K., & Desmarais, C. (2013). Investigating the structure and meaning of public service motivation across populations: Developing an international instrument and addressing issues of measurement invariance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 23(1), 79 - 102. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mus027
Knassmüller, M., & Veit, S. (2015). Culture matters: The training of senior civil servants in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Teaching Public Administration, 34, 120 - 149. https://doi.org/10.1177/0144739415620949
Koga, N. M., Karruz, A. P., Palotti, P. L. de M., Soares Filho, M. L. V., & do Couto, B. G. (2023). When bargaining is and is not possible: The politics of bureaucratic expertise in the context of democratic backsliding. Policy and Society, 42(3), 378 - 391. https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puad023
Kucinskas, J., & Silveira, M. C. (2025). Ethical transgressions and moral courage in bureaucracies under pressure. SocArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/kcjwr_v1
Kucinskas, J., & Zylan, Y. (2023). Walking the Moral Tightrope: Federal Civil Servants' Loyalties, Caution, and Resistance Under the Trump Administration. American Journal of Sociology, 128 (6), 1761 - 1808. https://doi.org/10.1086/725313
Li, C. H. (2016). The performance of ML, DWLS, and ULS estimation with robust corrections in structural equation models with ordinal variables. Psychological methods, 21(3), 369 - 387. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000093
Lotta, G. S., de Lima, I. A., Silveira, M. C., Fernandez, M., Pedote, J. P., & Guaranha, O. L. C. (2024a). The procedural politicking tug of war: Law-versus-management disputes in contexts of democratic backsliding. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 7(1 - 2), 13 - 26. https://doi.org/10.1093/ppmgov/gvad008
Lotta, G., Fernandez, M., Pedote, J. P., Guaranha, O. L. C., Silveira, M. C., de Lima, I. A. (2024b). Action and Reaction: How Bureaucrats Cope with Different Forms of Political Oppression. In M. Morais de Sá e Silva & A. de Ávila Gomide (eds), Public Policy in Democratic Backsliding. International Series on Public Policy. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-65707-8_11
Mayntz, R., & Derlien, H.-U. (1989). Party Patronage and Politicization of the West German Administrative Elite 1970 - 1987—Toward Hybridization? Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration, 2(4), 384 - 404.
Meyer-Sahling, J. H., Mikkelsen, K. S., & Schuster, C. (2019). The causal effect of public service motivation on ethical behavior in the public sector: Evidence from a large-scale survey experiment. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 29(3), 445 - 459.
Mudde, C. (2007). Populist radical right parties in Europe. Cambridge University Press.
O’Leary, R. (2017). The Ethics of Dissent: Can President Trump Survive Guerrilla Government? Administrative Theory & Praxis, 39(2), 63 - 79. https://doi.org/10.1080/10841806.2017.1309803
Olsson, J. (2016). Subversion in Institutional Change and Stability: A Neglected Mechanism. Springer.
Perry, J. L., & Wise, L. R. (1990) The Motivational Bases of Public Service. Public Administration Review, 50, 367 - 373. https://doi.org/10.2307/976618
Peters, B. G. (1979). Bureaucracy, Politics, and Public Policy. Comparative Politics, 11(3), 339 - 358. https://doi.org/10.2307/421826
Peters, B. G., & Pierre, J. (2004). Politicization of the civil service in comparative perspective: The quest for control. Routledge.
Peters, B. G., & Pierre, J. (2022). Politicisation of the public service during democratic backsliding: Alternative perspectives. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 81, 629 - 639. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12561
Piotrowska, B. M. (2024). Street-level bureaucracy and democratic backsliding. Evidence from Poland. Governance, 37(S1), 127 - 151. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12876
Plant, J. F. (2018). Responsibility in Public Administration Ethics. Public Integrity, 20(sup1), 33 - 45. https://doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2017.1413927
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879 - 903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
Profiroiu, A., & Nastacă, C. (2021). What strengthens resilience in public administration institutions? Eastern Journal of European Studies, 12(SI), 100 - 125. https://doi.org/10.47743/ejes-2021-SI05
Ripoll, G., & Breaugh, J. (2025). Unveiling the public service identity: Rethinking public service motivation through social identity. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 8(2), 61 - 76. https://doi.org/10.1093/ppmgov/gvaf003
Ripoll, G., & Schott, C. (2023). Responding to Unethical Demands by One’s Leader: The Role of Public Service Motivation. International Journal of Public Administration, 47(14), 990 - 1000. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2023.2233118
Rooduijn, M., Pirro, A. L. P., Halikiopoulou, D., Froio, C., van Kessel, S., de Lange, S. L., Mudde, C., & Taggart, P. (2023). The PopuList: A database of populist, far-left, and far-right parties using expert-informed qualitative comparative classification (EiQCC). British Journal of Political Science, 54(3), 969 - 978. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123423000431
Sager, F., & Rosser, C. (2021, September 29). Weberian Bureaucracy. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Retrieved 18 Mar. 2026, from https://oxfordre.com/politics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-166
Schuster, C., Mikkelsen, K. S., Correa, I., & Meyer-Sahling, J.-H. (2022). Exit, voice, and sabotage: Public service motivation and guerrilla bureaucracy in times of unprincipled political principals. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 32(2), 416 - 435. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muab028
Schwanke, K., & Ebinger, F. (2006). Politisierung und Rollenverständnis der deutschen Administrativen Elite 1970 bis 2005. Wandel trotz Kontinuität. Politische Vierteljahresschrift Sonderheft, 228 - 249.
Suzuki, K. (2025). Government efficiency or administrative backsliding?: warning signs from global experience with administrative decline. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, 47(2), 91 - 95. https://doi.org/10.1080/23276665.2025.2472611
Svara, J. H. (2001), The Myth of the Dichotomy: Complementarity of Politics and Administration in the Past and Future of Public Administration. Public Administration Review, 61, 176 - 183. https://doi.org/10.1111/0033-3352.00020
Tse, H., & Mak, M. K. F. (2022). Value dynamics in support to social movement: Hong Kong civil servants in the anti-extradition bill movement. Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, 18(2), 137 - 153. https://doi.org/10.1108/STICS-04-2021-0007
Veit, S. (2021). Die öffentliche Verwaltung im modernen Staat. GWP - Gesellschaft. Wirtschaft. Politik, 70(1), 99 - 109. https://doi.org/10.3224/gwp.v70i1.09
Weber, M. (1946). From Max Weber: Essays in sociology (H. H. Gerth & C. W. Mills, Trans.). Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1919)
Wilson, W. (1887). The study of administration. Political Science Quarterly, 2(2), 197 - 222. https://doi.org/10.2307/2139277
Wright, B. E., Christensen, R. K., & Pandey, S. K. (2013). Measuring Public Service Motivation: Exploring the Equivalence of Existing Global Measures. International Public Management Journal, 6(2), 197 - 223.
Yesilkagit, K., Bauer, M., Peters, B. G., & Pierre, J. (2024). The guardian state: Strengthening the public service against democratic backsliding. Public Administration Review, 84(3), 414 - 425. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13808