Quangos in Germany?

Abstract

In Germany as in Britain ‘lean management’ in public administration, ‘lean government’ and the privatization of state activity have been widely debated subjects. Nevertheless, because of the differences between the British and German legal, constitutional and political systems the debate in Germany takes a somewhat different direction from that in Britain. The differences in the system account for why it is difficult to find the exact equivalent of a quango in Germany. The definition of quangos as ‘part of direct public administration but with some independence from ministerial control’ would in the German context cover a very wide range of bodies including both the traditional public law structure of administration and the newly developed or rather particular type of public administration in the shape of a private law institution.