Regierungsbezirk

      Regierungsbezirke as from 1 August 2008. In the map there are also shown the former RBs of Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony
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      Regierungsbezirk (pronounced [ʁeˈɡiːʁʊŋsbəˌtsɪʁk], abbreviated Reg.-Bez.) is an administrative region on federal state level in Germany. The regional authority is called Regierungspräsidium or Bezirksregierung (English: District Government) and headed by a Regierungspräsident (District President).

      The Regierungsbezirke do not pass any legislation. Within the federal state authority, they act as a mid-level agency mostly concerned with administrative decisions on a regional level for the affiliated districts.[1]

      Translations

      • governmental district [2]
      • administrative district,[3][4]
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      History

      The first Regierungsbezirke were established in the course of the Prussian reforms between 1808 and 1816, when the Kingdom of Prussia divided its provinces into 25 Regierungsbezirke. Upon the German unification of 1871, the concept was adopted by several States of the German Empire.

      The Regierungsbezirke of North Rhine-Westphalia are in direct continuation of those created in the Prussian Rhine and Westphalia provinces in 1816. Other states created similar entities, named Kreishauptmannschaft (in Saxony) or Kreis (in Bavaria and Württemberg) (not to be confused with the present-day Kreis or Landkreis districts). In Nazi Germany the naming was unified to Regierungsbezirk.

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      Regierungsbezirke by state

      Currently, only four large area states out of 16 in total are divided into Regierungsbezirke, all others are directly divided into districts without mid-level agencies. Those four states are divided into a total of 19 Regierungsbezirke, ranging in population from 5,255,000 (Düsseldorf) to 1,065,000 (Gießen):

      On January 1, 2000 Rhineland-Palatinate disbanded its three Regierungsbezirke Koblenz, Rheinhessen-Pfalz and Trier - the employees and assets of the three Bezirksregierungen were converted into three public authorities responsible for the whole state, each covering a part of the former responsibilities of the Bezirksregierung.

      On January 1, 2004, Saxony-Anhalt disbanded its three Regierungsbezirke: Dessau, Halle and Magdeburg. The responsibilities are now covered by a Landesverwaltungsamt with three offices at the former seats of the Bezirksregierungen.

      At the foundation of Lower Saxony in 1946 by the merger of the three former Free States of Brunswick, Oldenburg, Schaumburg-Lippe and the former Prussian province of Hanover the former two states became Verwaltungsbezirke (roughly administrative regions of extended competence) within Lower Saxony besides the less autonomous Prussian-style Regierungsbezirke comprising the former Province of Hanover and the tiny Schaumburg-Lippe. These differences were levelled on 1 January 1978, when four territorially redeployed Regierungsbezirke replaced the two Verwaltungsbezirke and the old six Regierungsbezirke: Brunswick and Oldenburg as well as Aurich, Hanover (remaining mostly the same), Hildesheim, Lüneburg (old), Osnabrück and Stade. On 1 January 2005, Lower Saxony disbanded its remaining four Regierungsbezirke: Brunswick, Hanover, Lüneburg, and Weser-Ems.

      On August 1, 2008, Saxony restructured its districts (Landkreise) and changed the name of its Regierungsbezirke to Direktionsbezirke. This was necessary because one of the new districts did not fit with the borders of the old Regierungsbezirke and some responsibilities are now covered by the districts. The Direktionsbezirke are still named Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig. As of March 1, 2012, the Direktionsbezirke were merged into one Landesdirektion.

      Three of the new federal states re-established in 1990, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Thuringia, decided not to implement Regierungsbezirke. In Schleswig-Holstein and Saarland they never existed.

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      Historic Regierungsbezirke

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      References

      1. ^ Regional Governments in France, Germany, Poland and The Netherlands (HTML version of PowerPoint presentation) - Cachet, A (coordinator), Erasmus University, Rotterdam[dead link]
      2. ^ http://www.regierung.oberbayern.bayern.de/englisch/
      3. ^ http://www.regierung.oberfranken.bayern.de/en/index.php
      4. ^ http://www.regierung.unterfranken.bayern.de/service/englisch/00101/index.html
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      External links

      Media related to Regierungsbezirk at Wikimedia Commons

      Articles on second-level administrative divisions of European countries
      1Has part of its territory outside Europe. 2 Entirely in Western Asia, but considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons. 3 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border. 4Partially recognised.
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      Last modified on 10 June 2013, at 10:44