Actors of organised civil society and public administration play an important role in processes of policy making in the local area. Local organised civil society shapes local policy. At once civil society is receiver of political decision making processes (Bogumil/Holtkamp 2002). Up to now actors of public administration obtained the role as executive instance who mainly prepare politics. Their arrangement potential in the local area has not been examined by local political science yet. Very important seems also the factor of closeness in relation to the policies, the processes and the actors in the local area (Andersen 1998). The local governance perspective which focuses on the way of interaction in the local area is based on the assumption that public and private actors (like public administration and civil society) interact in processes of policy making in visible and invisible (informal) constellations. But the way of interaction between these actors and their role in processes of policy making were not analysed in research projects yet. This paper wants to focus on this special relationship between these actors on the basis of one selected policy field. The paper aims to analyse the following three aspects (1) Which forms of policy making exist in the local area and in which (formal and informal) way actors of public administration and organised civil society interact in these forms? (2) How do actors of public administration and organised civil society perceive each other in processes of policy making in the local area and (3) how can be valued their relationship in reference to the approach of governance and the concept of corporate democracy in the local area? The paper will argue that the relationship between the actors of public administration and organised civil society is formed by institutional structures and the (informal) pattern of interaction.
