Wolfgang Seibel

1. Introduction: Black Swans and Sinatra Inferences2. Evaporated Responsibility: The Collapse of the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne on 15 October 19703. Intended Ignorance: The Collapse of the I-35 W Mississippi River Bridge on 1 August 20074. Erosion of Professional Integrity: The Collapse of the Canterbury TV Building in Christchurch on 22 February 20115. Politicization of the Non-Politicizable: The Collapse of the Ice Skating Rink in Bad Reichenhall on 2 January 20066. Conclusion: Strategic Learning and Situational High Reliability

This open access book is about mismanagement of public agencies as a threat to life and limb. Collapsing bridges and buildings kill people and often leave many more injured. Such disasters do not happen out of the blue nor are they purely technical in nature since construction and maintenance are subject to safety regulation and enforcement by governmental agencies. This book analyses four relevant cases from Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Germany. Arguing that, while preventing disaster through public oversight is essentially easy, the difficult part for public officials and private contractors and consultants alike is to resist incentives that threaten professional skills and standards. Rather than stressing well-known pathologies of bureaucracy as a potential source of disaster, this book argues, learning for the sake of prevention should aim at neutralizing threats to integrity and strengthening a sense of responsibility among public officials.

In 1942, two years after invading France, the Germans implemented their policy of exterminating the Jews. In contrast to Jews in many parts of German-occupied Europe, however, the majority of Jews in France survived, thanks to opposition to the Nazi extermination policy from Church dignitaries and the moral indignation of the average Frenchmen. Seeking to maintain popular support, the Vichy Regime bargained with the Germans over the substance and extent of its collaboration, which the Germans needed in order to hold France. Translated from the German and drawing on German and French sources, Wolfgang Seibel traces the twisted process of political decision-making that shaped the fate of the Jews in German-occupied France during World War II. By analyzing the German-French negotiations, he reveals the underlying logic as well as the actual course of the bargaining process as both the Vichy Regime and the Germans sought a stable relationship. Yet that relationship was continually reshaped by the progress of the war, Germany’s deteriorating prospects, France’s economic and geopolitical position, and the Vichy government’s quest for domestic political support. The Jews’ suffering intensified when the Germans had the upper hand; but when the French felt empowered, the Vichy Regime stopped collaborating in the completion of the “final solution.” Persecution and Rescue: The Politics of the “Final Solution” in France, 1940–1944 demonstrates the ways in which political circumstances can mitigate—or foster—mass crime.

Die deutsche Wiedervereinigung und die Auflösung der militärischen und wirtschaftlichen Blöcke in Europa stellen die Regierungen und Verwaltungen des Bundes und der Länder vor gravierende Herausforderungen. Die Autoren des Bandes untersuchen, ob Regierungen und Verwaltungen in der Lage sind, in der gegenwärtigen Krise zu lernen und die notwendigen Veränderungen durchzuführen. Die Studien behandeln u. a. folgende Problemkreise: Wie kann die Demokratie stabilisiert und die Legitimation staatlichen Handelns gesichert werden? Wie lassen sich die Rationalität und Effizienz von Politik und Verwaltung verbessern? Welche Konsequenzen ergeben sich aus der wachsenden Verflechtung nationaler und internationaler Politikarenen? Wie können Regierungen und Verwaltungen auf die wirtschaftlichen, politischen und administrativen Folgen der deuschen Einheit reagieren? Sind Politik und Verwaltung hinreichend lernfähig und können sie neue institutionelle, prozessuale und inhaltliche Lösungen finden?