Does the economics and civic education in Germany prepare future local politicians for a mandate takeover?

Abstract

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the cities and municipalities decide which streets are being refurbished, which educational services are offered, or where sewers will be laid. The cities and municipalities have financial resources at their disposal for this purpose. However, these resources are, with a view to Rhineland-Palatinate, insufficient or inadequate for these versatile tasks. The available financial resources are distributed in the municipal parliaments. The local politicians are elected representatives from the general society. Every citizen over 18 years can be elected in order to decide upon the distribution of funds. Yet, parliamentarians require economic knowledge, and a certain competence in economics matters for these decision-making processes. The aim of this study is to determine the degree to which economics and civil education in Germany is able to qualify future local politicians for a local-political mandate. In this context, it is worthy of note that our respondents (N = 263) are not able to consider multilevel consequences of context alterations with regard to the finances of their municipality.