In dem Band werden Entwicklung und Stand der Staats- und Verwaltungsreform in Frankreich und Deutschland vergleichend behandelt. Nach einem vergleichenden Einleitungskapitel werden - in jeweils parallelen Beiträgen - die Themenfelder: Staats- und Verwaltungstradition, Dezentralisierung, Verwaltungsreform, öffentliche Finanzen, öffentlicher Dienst/Personal, dezentral/lokale Sozialpolitik, kommunale Demokratie und lokale politisch-administrative Strukturen untersucht.

Professor Vincent Hoffmann-Martinot is Directeur de Recherche at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).
Hellmut Wollmann is professor (em.) at the Institute of Social Science, Humboldt University Berlin.

State Organisation in France and Germany between Territorially and Functionality.- Modernizing Sub-National Government in France: Institutional Creativity and Systemic Stability.- Sub-National Government and Regional Governance in Germany.- The Evolution of Public Personnel Systems in France: Structure and Reforms.- Civil Service in Germany: Between Cutback Management and Modernization.- French Territorial Administration and Changes in Public Management.- Local Government A Strategic Resource in German Public Management Reform.- French Public Finances against Globalization: Resistance, Transformation, Reform.- Public Finance as Drivers and Constraints for Public Sector Reform in Germany.- Local Mirrors of State Modernisation: The Case of the Territorialisation of Employment Policy in France.- Public Sector Reforms and Local Governments in Germany: The Case of Local Social Policy.- From Government to Governance at the Local Level Some Considerations based on Data Surveys with Mayors and Chief Executive Officers.- Reform and Modernization of Urban Government in France.- Modernizing German Local Government: Bringing the People Back in?.