Bernhard Blanke

Bernhard Blanke (born March 8, 1941 in Stuttgart ; † August 5, 2014 ) was a political scientist and professor emeritus at the University of Hanover .

Life

Bernhard Blanke studied philosophy and law at the University of Tübingen from 1961 to 1967 and political science at the Free University of Berlin . In addition to studying economics and history, Blanke worked from 1968 to 1974 as a research assistant in the political science department at the Free University of Berlin. He then obtained his doctorate in the Department of Political Science in 1975. In 1978 Blanke completed his habilitation in the subject of Political Science at the University of Hanover, where he previously worked in 1975 as an academic advisor at the Department of Political Science. In 1982 Blanke was hired as a professor at the University of Hanover in the field of history, philosophy and social science. In 2006 he retired there.

In 1967 Blanke was a founding member and managing director of the Republican Club in Berlin. Since 1983 he has been co-editor of the magazine Leviathan and the series Social Policy and State Activities at the Leske + Budrich publishing house (together with Roland Czada , Hubert Heinelt , Adrienne Héritier , Gerhard Lehmbruch and Manfred G. Schmidt ). Numerous stays filled his résumé. Among other things as a visiting fellow at the University of Warwick and the University of Bristol . Since 1991 Blanke has been a member of the International Advisory Board of policy & politics (University of Bristol). Since 1993 Blanke was head of “Social Policy and Public Policy” at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Hanover. Since 1995 founding member and co-director of the research center "Health Economics and Health System Research" at the University of Hanover and since 1999 he has been a member of the European Studies working group, Department of History, Philosophy a. Social Sciences, University of Hanover.

His main research interests were:

• State modernization and administrative reform
• political control of social change
• Consultancy for the public sector

Content of the most important publications

In the 1970s Blanke was one of the spokesmen for the neo-Marxist state derivation debate .

Blankes main publications include immigration and asylum in the competitive society , manual on administrative reform and from active to activating state .

The key words in the non-fiction book Immigration and Asylum in a Competitive Society include: Migration , population development, policy on foreigners, xenophobia , multiculturalism and immigration. The question arises as to whether the “asylum compromise” will solve the immigrant problem. Those familiar with the situation and the political and legal framework will shed light on the various aspects and provide an objective basis for the discussion.

The administrative reform continues to occupy the federal, state and local levels. Conceptually, the discussed approaches and instruments have been clarified to a considerable extent, but there is just as much uncertainty and need for orientation when implementing measures. The manual on the form of administration provides a contribution to the classification of different concepts and orientation for the implementation of the administrative reform. In 48 articles and 60 contributions, concepts of the administrative reform are presented, their development context is explained, practical fields of application are described and development perspectives are examined.

The current discussion about the state , statehood, governance , market, community and the third sector are currently controversial topics, which Blanke addresses in his publication From Active to Activating State . Points of reference for the reform debates and innovation are among other things the concept of the activating state, guidelines of the activating state in practice and the old state and the reforms are scope for modernization.

Fonts (selection)

• Critique of Political Science , Volume I, Frankfurt / Main, New York: Campus-Verlag, 1975, ISBN 3-585-32504-1
• Critique of Political Science , Volume II, Frankfurt / Main, New York: Campus-Verlag, 1975, ISBN 3-585-32505-X
• Big city and unemployment. A problem syndrome in the network of local social policy , Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1987, ISBN 3-531-11909-5
• Immigration and Asylum in Competitive Society , Opladen: Leske and Budrich, 1993, ISBN 3-8100-1120-7 (editor)
• Handbuch zur Verwaltungsreform , 4th, updated and supplemented edition, Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-17880-6 (publisher, first edition Opladen: Leske and Budrich, 1998, ISBN 3-8100-1808 -2 ).

Web links

• Literature by and about Bernhard Blanke in the catalog of the German National Library
• Reference to Bernhard Blanke on the website of the University of Hanover