This paper deals with key issues of Section 31, namely the interaction between ministerial bureaucracies and their political environment in Germany. More precisely, it deals with the question how the policy priorities of German political parties influence the organization of ministerial bureaucracies following elections. Conceptually, it seeks to extend earlier theories of coalition formation, which focused on portfolio allocation as the ‘currency’ capturing the payoffs of political parties joining a government. It parts with this body of scholarship theoretically and empirically by taking a closer look at the reorganization of government departments as a consequence of cabinet formation. In particular, we investigate how the organization of ministerial bureaucracies responds to the governing parties’ (shifting) policy agendas (e.g., changes in the saliency of cross-cutting issues such as environmental policy, women’s rights or the integration of citizens of immigrant origin).
