ABSTRACT
In order to understand the role of the Lander in higher education policy-making in the Federal Republic of Germany, the reorganisation of Kulturpolitik in post-war Germany needs to be briefly considered. The central position of the Lander is to be understood mainly as the result of specific historical circumstances. This chapter briefly looks at the historical development of the post-war years, focusing on the role of the Lander and the institutions they created for the purpose of higher education policy-making. In the immediate post-war years, cultural and educational affairs were a low priority compared with the social, as well as economic, disruption left by the war. In this climate, there was no challenge to the restoration and recreation of cultural competence along local and regional lines, eventually leading, with the support of the occupation powers, to the creation of Lander authorities for the supervision of culture and education.
