»Bureaucracy« as negative marking. On the semantics of criticizing the EU and national government [»Bürokratie« als negative markierung: Zur semantik von staatsund EU-kritik]

Abstract

For forty years Germany has been promising and practicing debureaucratization (»cutting red tape«). The promise indicates a state reacting to a widespread discomfort with»bureaucracy« – a promise it cannot fulfill. At the same time, the discourse of debureaucratization marginalizes the necessary democratic criticism of administration, the state and the law. This works because the word»bureaucracy« was not invented and introduced as a descriptive concept of analysis, but has been opening up a space of discourse, a marker for criticism, struggle and resentment of most different kinds for over 200 years. The article discusses the functioning and possible negative consequences of this critique by marking something as»bureaucracy«. © 2020 Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH und Co. All Rights Reserved.