德國地方政府的行政區域重劃源自十九世紀末，甚至更早以前，不過，實施的範圍有限，而且主要集中在工業發達的魯爾區(Ruhrgebiet)。一直到 1960 年代因為社會變遷、經濟蓬勃發展，機動性的提高，人民對地方政府的要求不斷提高，而地方政府卻因為規模太小、行政能力薄弱，難以滿足人民的需求。而另一方面，由於地方自治的實質內容減少，地方自治的意義不斷被質疑，於是為了強化地方政府的治理能力、提升地方政府的行政能力和效率以及落實地方自治的精神，德國各邦政府從 1960 年代中期以後，開始進行行政區域改革。本文即是要探討德國在進行行政區域改革時所面臨的種種問題，包括:為什麼需要這麼做?有什麼選擇方案?會有哪些困難要面對? 如何減少阻礙?執行效果如何?這些都是本文試圖探討的。最後本文將以德國的行政區域改革為例，探討在台灣的應用可能。

The territorial reform in Germany at the local government level began in the end of the 19th century or even earlier. But the scale and the scope of its implementation was very limited and happened in the majority of cases in the Ruhr area. During the 1960s, the social situation had changed greatly, the economy boomed, and the mobility increased; the demand of people for local government had gradually enhanced on the one hand, but the real substance of self-administration had evidently reduced, so that the meaning of self- administration was constantly challenged on the other hand. Therefore it was necessary to reform the original territories of local government in order to improve the ability of governance and efficiency and the effect of local government and furthermore to fulfill the spirit of self-administration. That is the reason why the States of Germany began to carry out a territorial reform in the municipalities, rural districts and urban districts all over the country in the middle of the 1960s. This article explores the relevant issues on the territorial reform at the level of local government in Germany, for instance, the difficulties and the results of the reform as well as how to overcome these obstacles.