https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habilitation
The habilitation is thus a qualification at a higher level than the German doctoral degree awarded during Promotion. ... Once the habilitation thesis (Habilitationsschrift) and all other requirements are completed, the candidate (called Habilitand in German) "has habilitated himself" and receives the degree "Dr. habil."
https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/wiso/research/post-doctoral-dissertation.html
Habilitation defines the qualification to conduct self-contained university teaching and is the key for access to a professorship in many European countries. Despite all changes implemented in the European higher education systems during the Bologna Process, it is the highest qualification level issued through the process of a university examination and remains the core concept of scientific careers in German speaking countries.
The degree is conferred for a habilitation thesis based on independent scholarship, which was reviewed by and successfully defended before an academic committee in a process similar to that of a doctoral dissertation. In some countries, a habilitation degree is a required formal qualification to independently teach and examine a designated subject at the university level.
This is a good one.
As far as I can make out, the Habil is a requirement for becoming a Professor, not a 'Dozent'. A Dozent translates roughly to lecturer/senior lecturer, or assistant professor/associate professor. This is the first point: an 'Anglo' Professor does not need to pass another formal exam, the PhD is the terminal qualification.
Further, tenure in North America is dependent upon other variables, and to my knowledge this will be based upon research portfolio and research impact. Professor in the 'German' world depends more on having passed the Habilitation. In this way, the North American model does not require a 'formal' exam, it requires evidence of research and publishing excellence. If you like, it is more 'entrepreneurial', in a very loose imagining of the concept. It looks for evidence of excellence in the wider field of academia. The German version is more stratified, codified, and formalised. It looks for evidence of excellence as observed and confirmed by one single University body. At the end of the day, both systems might be seen to produce a similar product, the one more as a result of rigorous peer review, the other as a result of a rigorous examination. You could possibly argue that the Anglo system encourages the production of more outputs, driving the cultural capital of the international journal system, and that the German way bolsters the cultural capital in the edifice of the university system.
There, that's my best shot, hope it helps.
Indeed, this is a quite complex issue and no answer may cover every aspect of the fact that academic qualifications are after all the result of studies and to some extend a academic politics, which is often driven by economic factors, which may suggest an opening to all other possibilities.
I liked the original quote Artur, its says it all.
“Habilitiert ist jemand, wenn er in den Kreis der unserigen aufgenommen wird."
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