Public administration and public policies aimed at its reform occupy a central position in Peter Katzenstein's (1987) analysis of the semisovereign state. They appear in four distinct ways. First, a decentralised bureaucracy is the third of four defining features of the ‘decentralised state’ that Katzenstein contrasts with ‘centralised society’. The fourth feature, the constrained power of the chancellor, is also closely connected to the administrative organisation of the German state, since the constitutional right of ministers to run their departments without interference from the chancellor ‘reinforces the bureaucratic fragmentation (Ressortprinzip) inherent in the federal bureaucracy’ (1987, p. 23). Second, two of the three ‘nodes’ of the policy network – co-operative federalism and parapublic institutions – are directly associated with public administration. Co-operative federalism is, to a large extent, about co-operation between the administrations at local, Land and federal levels, and many parapublic institutions – such as the Federal Labour Office (Bundesanstalt für Arbeit) – are public authorities in all but name. Third, public administration is key to explaining patterns of policy development, for ‘West German bureaucracy presents structural obstacles to large-scale changes no less formidable than the interaction of coalition governments, co-operative federalism, and parapublic institutions’ (1987, p. 255). Finally, administrative reform serves as an illustrative case study for the ‘analysis of the organization and political capacities of the West German state’ (1987, pp. 254–5).

It is not difficult to see why public administration and administrative policy should be at the heart of the debate about the semisovereign state.