Welcome to the homepage of the Chair of Political Science, Public Administration and Organization

Prof. Kuhlmann calls for a reduction in bureaucratic burdens, especially for medium-sized companies, and for declaring this a permanent task, with a stronger NKR.

Under the title “Do it online now”, Brandenburg's new state government is promoting the increased use of digital official processes. But how far is Brandenburg on the way to a digital town hall?

With billions of euros in annual compliance costs for citizens, business and administration, the bureaucratic burden in Germany remains blatantly high, according to Prof. Kuhlmann in an interview.

Chair organizes two-day Lund-Göteborg-Potsdam workshop

With 20 participants from Germany, Sweden and the UK, an intensive exchange on research projects in the field of local governance was realized during the workshop.

Following the handover of the annual report on bureaucracy reduction, a specialist conference was held on the topic of bureaucracy reduction, at which Prof. Kuhlmann gave a presentation.

During the conference, 25 years of cooperation between the UP and the National Academy of Governance were also honored and a memorandum of understanding on future joint projects was signed.

The participants Massey, Kuhlmann, Elliott, Rinfret, Meijer, Yu, Lotta, George discussed “Trends in Public Administration”, publication processes and interaction between research and practice

Under the title: “European governments facing the polycrisis”, the article analyzes the institutional design variants of local crisis governance responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The book edited by Prof. Kuhlmann et al. analyzes the consequences of economic and political crises for interstate relations in Europe on the basis of various fields of action.

International workshop “Local governance in times of conflict”

The workshop was organized by the PVO Chair and KWI. Central were the paper presentations by Mr. Franzke and Mr. Brenner (Hebrew Uni Jerusalem) and Naomi Adiv (University of Toronto)

Marienfeldt, Kuhlmann, Kühler and Proeller compare the organization of administrative digitization in the multi-level system, as well as municipal innovation priorities in the DACH region.

Prof. Kuhlmann discussed the challenges of bureaucracy with moderators Zacharias Zacharakis and Jens Tönnesmann

Prof Kuhlmann discussed the topic of “Reducing bureaucracy through digitalization: best practices and success stories from the field” with representatives from business and administration on the panel

Justine Marienfeldt, Liz Wehmeier and Sabine Kuhlmann compare the types of institutional change and their effects based on two major digitization projects. Read Open Access now.

The chapter compares Germany, Sweden and France with regard to Administrative interdependencies in refugee integration (Sabine Kuhlmann, Franziska Oehlert and Marie Catherine Reusch)

Niklas Peters at the IPPA Summer School at UC Berkeley

In addition to participating in Prof. Christopher Ansell's course, Niklas Peters was able to present his dissertation project "Expertise in Crisis".

In the interview, Prof. Kuhlmann explains the need to reduce bureaucracy and discusses the activities of the NKR. A fixed bureaucracy reduction target of 25% is also discussed.

The prize awarded by the Dean of Studies for the course "Brückenbauer: Theorie und Praxis der wiss. Politikberatung im Kontext einer krisenfesten Verwaltung" is endowed with a prize of €3,000.

Despite ambitious programs, Germany is only making slow progress in the digitization of public administration. This special volume analyzes practice and challenges in advanced administrative areas.

The chapter on the effects of digitalization and automation on work and employees in public administration is published in the "Handbuch Digitalisierung in Staat und Verwaltung“

Prof. Kuhlmann presented the results of the DIGILOG project in the context of the conference: "A comparison of administrative digitization in Germany, Austria and Switzerland"

In der neusten Ausgabe wird Prof. Kuhlmann vom Finanzminister des Lande BaWü, Danyal Bayaz, dazu befragt, wie der Bürokratieabbau gelingen kann und warum Bürokratie auch gute Seiten hat.

The FAZ article reports on "Ways out of the complexity trap" using the example of a single father's visits to the authorities.

In the documentary, Prof. Kuhlmann, among others, is interviewed as an expert: Why is bureaucracy reduction not working? And how could it work?

Prof. Kuhlmann explains the obstacles to reducing bureaucracy and what should still be done.

The article "Tracing divergence in crisis governance", from the Covid-19 - Special Issue has reached number 1 of the most cited articles in IRAS in 2022.

In December, the European Network of Independent Councils for Better Regulation met in Stockholm. Prof. Kuhlmann represented Germany at the Board Meeting.

The documentary reports on the current challenges in the areas of digitalization, administration and skills shortages. Prof. Kuhlmann is interviewed about this as an expert, among other things.

In October 2023, the NKR discussed ideas for less bureaucratic legislation with stakeholders in Brussels and developed recommendations for the German government.

We congratulate Desy Hariyati Daryono, who is a doctoral candidate at the Chair, on her election as doctoral candidate representative. We wish her every success and good luck in tackling new challenge

New #Deutschlandgeschwindigkeit: meeting of the Standards Control Councils and clearing houses

The Federal and State Regulatory Control Councils and Clearing Houses will work together with the Federal Statistical Office in future to identify proposals for speeding up procedures.

The National Regulatory Control Council (NKR) presented its 2023 annual report to Federal Minister of Justice Dr. Marco Buschmann on 20 November

Main topic of the panel discussion: "State modernization & bureaucracy reduction: How digital innovations are changing cooperation between the state and companies" (from min. 28:00)

The NKR has long been able to measure increased compliance costs and higher bureaucracy costs. However, Prof. Kuhlmann also points out measures such as the one-in-one-out principle. (from min. 19:10)

Prof. Kuhlmann emphasizes that the NKR's position papers must be given more influence. It depends on the body's ability to assert itself in ministries in order to manage the reduction of bureaucracy.

Prof. Kuhlmann at the AWV network event "Digitization of spatial approval processes"

Process digitization can speed up planning and approval procedures. Prof. Kuhlmann presented the NKR position paper on accelerating planning and approval procedures

Higher Seminar on Crisis Governance in the Multi-level System at the University of Gothenburg

At a joint workshop, Prof. Kuhlmann addressed migration management in Germany and emphasized the role of the local administrative level for coordinated crisis management

The chair was again represented at the EGPA conference. Under the heading "Steering European Union through poly-crises storms" transformation processes in public administration were discussed.

The Federal Cabinet has approved the key points on the Digital Check presented by the BMI. This strengthens the binding nature of the procedure and helps the NRCC in its role as an auditing body.

In an interview, Sabine Kuhlmann points out causes and possible ways out of the bureaucratic overload in Germany.

In an interview with SR3, Prof. Kuhlmann explained why the legalistic administrative culture in Germany is a source of bureaucracy and what levers there are for reducing bureaucracy.

Bureaucracy, federalism and data protection - the docu " Stillstand und Regelwut - verspielt Deutschland die Zukunft?" shows where Germany is slowing itself down and where there is a need for action.

Sabine Kuhlmann and Justine Marienfeldt met with the research consortium to present the first results of the sub-projects (webcrawling, survey, case studies) and the PhD projects.

The DAAD Prize, which was awarded to Tomás Agustín Vellani on 29 June 2023, honours international students for outstanding achievements in their studies at the University of Potsdam.

The study "Crisis Governance in a Multilevel System: German PA Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic" examines how the German multi-level administration dealt with the pandemic.

For the next three years Sabine Kuhlmann will support the SPSR as Editorial Board Member. The SPSR is a double blind peer reviewed journal in the field of political science Impact Factor: 1.578

The researchers Justine Marienfeldt and Jakob Kühler participated in appointments around the topic of digitization and conducted interviews. The data will be used for the DIGILOG project.

Besides presenting research projects of the chair, students from Potsdam and Haifa joined round tables discussions. The exchange makes a vital contribution to internationalization at UP.

The authors compare local governance systems and reforms in Europe and argue that Digital Era Governance (after NPM) represents another int. mega-trend in administrative reform.

The 300 participants from trade unions, practice and science discussed current developments in the public service. Prof. Kuhlmann was part of the panel discussion in the plenum.

"The art is to perpetuate ideas and solution approaches outside the crisis and to actually put them into practice" Prof Kuhlmann summed up on the influence of science on politics.

In her contribution to the Handbook, published by Edward Elgar, she examines the influence of political-administrative actors on the design of administrative reforms.

Prof. Kuhlmann talks about her work in the National Regulatory Control Council and explains how she deals with the challenges of scientific policy advice.

New monograph published "The Capacity of Local Governments in Europe" (Kuhlmann/Dumas/Heuberger)

The book analyzes the capacity of local governments in European countries (France, Italy, UK, Sweden, Hungary, Poland) and compares competencies, autonomy, reform trends and financing.

Kuhlmann explains administrative challenges of the Berlin-Brandenburg area in climate protection. It is part of an int. comp. study by Kuhlmann/Schuppert on climate strategies in metropolitan areas.

Chair team says goodbye to long-time research associate Moritz Heuberger

Moritz assisted research & teaching since 2017. After completing his PhD, he is moving to Interior Ministry to advance digital administration. We wish him all the best personally and professionally.

Prof. Kuhlmann gives the key note on "Germany's Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Crisis Governance in the Multilevel System" at the conference. Listen to her presentation here (from min. 30)

Ms. Kuhlmann will once again serve as member of the National Regulatory Control Council (NKR) for another 5 years, advising federal government on better regulation and effective bureaucracy reduction.

Prof. Kuhlmann participated as a panelist at a conference of the Zentrum für Digitalisierung des Steuerrechts at LMU. You can view the program by clicking here.

In a panel on the modern state, Sabine Kuhlmann, in her capacity as acting chair of the NKR, discusses with Dr. Gerd Landsberg (chief executive of the DStGB) and Ulrich Silberbach (dbb), among others.

The project looks at the transformations in the public administration as a result of digitalization and automation and analyzes the effects on employees and administrative processes.

In the viewpoint article, the Advisory Board of the Institute for the Public Sector, on which Sabine Kuhlmann serves, takes a position on federal administrative management in the COVID-19 crisis.

In the interview Ms. Kuhlmann expresses doubts about the timetable for implementing the Online Access Act and argues in favor of the creation of an agile digitization agency based on the Danish model.

If you are interested in having your thesis supervised by a member of the chair, you can register now by filling out a form on the homepage (including a thesis proposal).

The PhD students of the interdisciplinary college „Mittelstadt als Mitmachstadt“ met for another retreat in Aachen. For further information, go to the project’s website.

Prof. Kuhlmann and colleagues conducted an empirical study on the role of data as basis for scientific policy consulting using the example of the COVID-19 crisis and presented an expert opinion.

Out of nearly 40 applications, 9 staff council committees were nominated for the prize, which is awarded by the Bund-Verlag. The awards ceremony takes place on Nov. 3 in Berlin at Schöneberger Forum.

In the article, the authors address the reasons for the poor implementation of administrative digitalization at the municipal level in Germany and focus in particular on employees and citizens.

In the episode from May 19 on the topic of Germany’s digital deficiencies, Sabine Kuhlmann talks about the hurdles in cutting red tape, slow digitalization and why she remains confident nonetheless.

On April 28, Sabine Kuhlmann participated in a panel discussion where she discussed with experts the preliminary lessons learned from the response of public institutions to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the graduate college, which is funded by the Bosch Foundation, scientists conduct research on transformations in medium-sized cities. Tomás Vellani's project focuses on digital transformation.

The article appeared "Multi-level responses to COVID-19: crisis coordination in Germany from an intergovernmental perspective" in Local Government Studies.

Members of the University of Potsdam will soon be able to download the book "Local Integration of Migrants Policy" (ed. Franzke, Ruano de la Fuente) as an eBook via the library's website