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2 - Incomplete Democratization, System Transformation, and the Civil Service: A Case Study on the Weimar Republic and the Nazi Regime in Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2021

Michael W. Bauer
Affiliation:
German University of Administrative Sciences, Speyer
B. Guy Peters
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Jon Pierre
Affiliation:
University of Gothenberg
Kutsal Yesilkagit
Affiliation:
Universiteit Leiden
Stefan Becker
Affiliation:
German University of Administrative Sciences, Speyer
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Summary

Based on a case study on Germany in the first half of the twentieth century, this chapter addresses the administrative dimension of liberal-democratic backsliding by examining the role the state bureaucracy played in the process of system transformation from the Weimar Republic to the Nazi regime. It shows how the state bureaucracy in Germany was approached and transformed by illiberal politicians in the late Weimar Republic and under Hitler. Despite the existence of a professional Weberian bureaucracy with strong regulative barriers against politicization in the Weimar Republic, the civil service did not function as a safeguard of the democratic system. Instead, many civil servants welcomed the roll-back of democratic principles, which facilitated the radical transformation and politicization of the bureaucracy in a short time. This case study underlines the significance of institutionalizing democratic values in the civil service in processes of democratization in order to strengthen its resilience to attempts of eroding liberal democratic institutions.

Type
Chapter
Information
Democratic Backsliding and Public Administration
How Populists in Government Transform State Bureaucracies
, pp. 22 - 46
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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