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Notwithstanding an ever-growing body of literature on administrative reforms, the studies either focus on single countries or emphasize common tendencies in all countries; hence providing little systematic insight for the evaluation and explanation of administrative change from a comparative perspective. In the light of this deficit, it is the aim of this article to develop an analytical concept for explaining cross-national variances in patterns of administrative development. For this purpose, the concept of national administrative reform capacity is developed, arguing that the potential for reforming different administrative systems is basically dependent on the general institutional context in which these systems are embedded. On this basis, two ideal type constellations of administrative reform capacity and corresponding patterns of administrative development are identified and illustrated by a systematic comparison of administrative reform capacities and administrative changes in Germany and Britain.

Argues that a central problem for effective implementation of European legislation is the impact of national administrative traditions, since the formal & practical transformation of European Union (EU) law rests mainly at the national level. The interplay of national administrative traditions & EU policy implementation is described, noting that national administrative traditions prevalent in a policy field may differ from country to country. It is argued that implementation effectiveness depends on the "institutional scope" of EU adaptation pressure, which is not only affected by broad European requirements, but also by the embeddedness of the respective administrative traditions & national capacities for administrative reform. According to the degrees of adaptation pressure, different paths are distinguished, suggesting more or less effective implementation. 1 Table, 44 References. Adapted from the source document.