Research variety and institutional dispersion – research on politics and administration and university education in Germany

Abstract

Since jurists still enjoy a privileged access to the senior service, the subject area “politics and administra- tion” is weakly institutionalized in political science departments at German universities. Nevertheless, one can find a wide variety of research on public administration in political science. German researchers focus- ing on “politics and administration” are also well integrated into international research networks. By singling out some key aspects of “administrative sciences and public policy”, this article reveals that this research branch has taken on the whole range of the methodological and theoretical approaches shaping the rel- evant debates in political science. Vice versa, “politics and administration” contributed to the dominating discourses in political science, such as the governance debate. Notwithstanding its tight linkage with other subdisciplines, “politics and administration” did not merge into these research areas but still adds to political science with distinct research questions. However, there is some potential still unexploited to further link research activities to administrative law and public management.