Beamter

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The German civil servants called Beamte (men, singular Beamter, more commonly der Beamte) (women, singular Beamtin) have a privileged legal status compared to other German public employees (called Angestellte), who are generally subject to the same laws and regulations as employees in the private sector. For example, the state can only fire Beamte if they commit a felony.

The tradition of classifying only some public employees as Beamte dates back to the "enlightened rule" of monarchs practised in 18th-century Prussia and other German states. These states did not accept "radical" concepts such as democracy or popular sovereignty, but they did try to professionalise their public services and to reduce corruption and favouritism. The idea was that whoever represents the state by undertaking official duties which only the state may legally provide (hoheitliche Aufgaben), such as issuing official documents, teaching state-approved curricula to students, preaching in state-approved churches, or making any other kind of official decisions, should have a special legal status and relationship with the state that demands a higher than normal degree of loyalty. At its core, that loyalty is regarded as mutual, with Beamte having a special duty of service (Dienstpflicht) going beyond the duties of salaried workers, with the state having a special duty of seeing to their welfare (Fürsorgepflicht) that likewise goes beyond what would be expected of a commercial employer. Some people^[who?] believe that once Beamtenstatus (i.e. tenure for life as a civil servant) is conferred, civil servants lack further professional motivation, to the detriment of those they are appointed to serve.

While soldiers and judges are not considered Beamte in Germany, many of the same rules apply to them. However, unlike Beamte, judges are not subject to the usual hierarchy and order of command of government, in order to preserve judicial independence. Similarly, unlike Beamte, soldiers cannot be ordered to act in any manner unrelated to the defence of the state (with the exception of providing peaceful aid in specific emergency situations laid down by law), so as to preserve the civilian nature of the German government.