Bürgeremotionen versus Verwaltungsrationalität?

Political discussions and negotiation processes are often used to classify rational or emotional behavior that enhances one’s own and the other’s devaluation. In the paper this is elaborated with a view to the clash of state planning euphoria and civic protest in the wake of the great administrative reforms of the 1960s and 1970s. Both supporting the reforms and criticizing them are highly complex emotional processes. But how is this reflected in the arguments and actions of the actors? To answer this question, the contemporary ideas and interpretations of a rational and emotional behavior come into focus. The emotions associated with the debate are analyzed at various levels: as a strategy of citizens’ initiatives, as a media strategy, as a factor of community involvement or the “emotional community” and as an attribution.