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Restoring Four-Power Rights, Reviving a Confederation in 1989

Mary Elise Sarotte

in 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe

This chapter examines the Soviet restoration model and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's revivalist model. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) hoped to use its weight as a victor in ... More

This chapter examines the Soviet restoration model and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's revivalist model. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) hoped to use its weight as a victor in the Second World War to restore the old quadripartite mechanism of four-power control exactly as it used to be in 1945, before subsequent layers of Cold War modifications created room for German contributions. This restoration model, which called for the reuse of the old Allied Control Commission to dominate all further proceedings in divided Germany, represented a realist vision of politics run by powerful states, each retaining their own sociopolitical order and pursuing their own interests. Meanwhile, Kohl's revivalist model represented the revival, or adaptive reuse, of a confederation of German states. This latter-day “confederationism” blurred the lines of state sovereignty; each of the two twenty-first-century Germanies would maintain its own political and social order, but the two would share a confederative, national roof.Less

The FDJ and the Prague Spring

ALAN McDOUGALL

in Youth Politics in East Germany: The Free German Youth Movement 1946-1968

In the GDR, two events provided a real test of the ‘68ers’ — part of the young generation that had been ‘born into socialism’ — loyalty to the East German state. These two events dominated the FDJ's ... More

In the GDR, two events provided a real test of the ‘68ers’ — part of the young generation that had been ‘born into socialism’ — loyalty to the East German state. These two events dominated the FDJ's agenda in 1968. The youth organization first played a prominent role in the campaign for a new socialist constitution in the GDR, which came into effect on 9 April after extensive public debate and a subsequent plebiscite. Attention then turned to the radical reform programme being undertaken under the leadership of Alexander Dubček in the neighbouring Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia (ČSSR). The FDJ's zeal in supporting SED policy against this communist-inspired flowering of reform (widely known as the Prague Spring) was unequivocal, both before and after Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia on 21 August. This chapter shows that the extent of ideological ‘uncertainty’ about both the new constitution and, in particular, the Prague Spring highlighted the fact that for all its organizational improvements since the near collapse of June 1953, the FDJ was still a long way from instilling the desired sense of ‘socialist consciousness’ in all young East Germans in 1968.Less

Introduction: The Meaning of the German Welfare State

David F. Crew

in Germans on Welfare: From Weimar to Hitler

This chapter examines the history of the Weimar welfare system from the following perspectives: national, regional, local, and individual. In order to understand the meaning of the German Welfare ... More

This chapter examines the history of the Weimar welfare system from the following perspectives: national, regional, local, and individual. In order to understand the meaning of the German Welfare State, one has to look towards the history of modern Germany. It has been recognized that it is hard to link a single strand in the history of the German welfare state since Bismarck because Germany failed to establish a stable, liberal parliamentary system of government, a democratic political culture, or an egalitarian civil society. Thus, the new German industrial nation allied with the Prussian aristocracy and the authoritarian German state to resist the forces of democracy. The welfare state became a central fixture of Germany's 20th-century modernity. The public welfare system touched the lives of Weimar Germans because the only means of assistance during the great period of inflation and the Depression was public welfare.Less

Introduction

Joachim Whaley

in Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume I: Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, 1493-1648

The introduction discusses the way that German and Austrian historians have written the history of the Holy Roman Empire in the two centuries since its dissolution. Prussian‐German nationalist ... More

The introduction discusses the way that German and Austrian historians have written the history of the Holy Roman Empire in the two centuries since its dissolution. Prussian‐German nationalist historians and Austrian historians both underestimated the Reich: the former saw it as the dismal backdrop to the emergence of the Prussian‐German nation state in 1871; the latter as the long‐term context for the emergence of the Austrian state which was declared an empire in 1804. New approaches since 1945, often associated with the name of Karl Otmar von Aretin, have resulted in a more positive view of the Reich. The introduction concludes by stating how this work will present a new view of the early modern German polity, its political culture and sense of national identity, which builds on but transcends the existing literature.Less

The Rise of International Policing

Mathieu Deflem

in Policing World Society: Historical Foundations of International Police Cooperation

This chapter discusses the developments of international policing in Europe, focusing particularly on German police institutions. It shows how police institutions undergo crucial changes in terms of ... More

This chapter discusses the developments of international policing in Europe, focusing particularly on German police institutions. It shows how police institutions undergo crucial changes in terms of bureaucratization and professionalization from the mid-19th century onwards. It highlights the Police Union of German states, an international police organization established in 1851, which may count as one of the first multilateral international police organizations in modern times. It also examines the cause and course of the internationalization of the police function following the revolutionary year of 1848 and describes how the socio-political conditions influenced international policing.Less

Conclusion: Integrating the Pieces and Looking toward the Future

Stephen J. Silvia

in Holding the Shop Together: German Industrial Relations in the Postwar Era

This book concludes by discussing the findings presented in the first five chapters and integrating them into a comprehensive picture of industrial relations in Germany. It shows that labor law and ... More

This book concludes by discussing the findings presented in the first five chapters and integrating them into a comprehensive picture of industrial relations in Germany. It shows that labor law and the German state have been resilient throughout the postwar years and effectively provide a framework that incorporates the actors constructively into the German economy. It argues that the industrial relations framework has remained effective and relevant, able to withstand threats and tumult such as German unification and European integration. It considers how the neocorporatist components of the German state, including the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency), have helped to preserve the political influence of trade unions and employers associations. It compares these and other results with those in other countries and ends by reflecting on the future of the German industrial relations system.Less

Conclusion

Julie Thorpe

in Pan-Germanism and the Austrofascist State, 1933-38

This text infers that Austria was a fascist regime even before the Anschluss in 1938. The Austrofascist efforts and vision pertaining to a new state and citizenry shared common theoretical ground ... More

This text infers that Austria was a fascist regime even before the Anschluss in 1938. The Austrofascist efforts and vision pertaining to a new state and citizenry shared common theoretical ground with their Italian and German counterparts. Where German-speakers in the empire had been exhorted to perform their civic duty by preaching German values and raising German children in the multinational state, German-speakers in the new Austria were instructed to think, act, speak and pray as an example to their fellow Germans in the Reich and in neighboring countries. Hence, erstwhile frameworks were used to channel and process new contents. The moot project was of an expressly constructivist nature. It is posited that Austrians in the 1930s imagined themselves both as members of the wider German-speaking community in Central Europe and as citizens of a German Austrian state.Less

The Dutch-German Border: Relating Linguistic, Geographic and Social Distances

Folkert De Vriend, Charlotte Giesbers, Roeland Van Hout, and Louis Ten Bosch

in Computing and Language Variation: International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing Volume 2

The Dutch-German state border south of the river Rhine was established in 1830. Before that time, the administrative borders in this region frequently changed. The Kleverlandish dialect area, which ... More

The Dutch-German state border south of the river Rhine was established in 1830. Before that time, the administrative borders in this region frequently changed. The Kleverlandish dialect area, which extends from Duisburg in Germany to Nijmegen in The Netherlands, crosses the state border south of the Rhine. This chapter assesses the impact of the Dutch-German state border on the linguistic characteristics of a sub-area of the Kleverlandish dialect area by relating linguistic, geographic and social distances to each other. Three models for explaining today's pattern of linguistic variation in the area are tested. In each model, another variable is used as the determinant of linguistic variation: geographic distance (continuum model), the state border (gap model), and social distance (social model). For the social model, perceptual data for friends, relatives and shopping locations are used. Testing the three models shows that nowadays the dialect variation in the research area is closely related to the existence of the state border and to the social structure of the area. The geographic spatial configuration hardly plays a role anymore.Less

Introduction

Andreas Killen

in Berlin Electropolis: Shock, Nerves, and German Modernity

This introductory chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to study the dialogue between the German state and its citizens about the “hidden costs” of the modernization process, a ... More

This introductory chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to study the dialogue between the German state and its citizens about the “hidden costs” of the modernization process, a dialogue conducted in the specialized new idiom of “nerves.” Charting the emergence and decline in German society of a new conception of the nervous self between 1870 and 1930, it sets these developments against the backdrop of the rapidly modernizing German capital, which during this period became arguably the most advanced metropolis in Europe. The discussion then turns to how late nineteenth-century Germans came to analyze themselves and the shocks and afflictions of industrial society in terms of this idiom of “nerves”, and the history of nervousness. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less

Introduction

Ian F. Mcneely

in The Emancipation of Writing: German Civil Society in the Making, 1790s-1820s

This book argues that the German state's reliance upon writing could just as easily undercut its domination and disperse its influence. It also situates the production and power of official texts ... More

This book argues that the German state's reliance upon writing could just as easily undercut its domination and disperse its influence. It also situates the production and power of official texts amidst the strategies and assumptions governing the use of writing in German society as a whole. The book treats citizenship as a practice, unearthing numerous instances when individuals and groups manipulated official texts to assert power within and against the state. It then reviews the emancipation of writing from the tutelage of powerful, manipulative scribes who acted as political operators in the duchy's towns and villages. The book's narrative falls naturally into two halves, corresponding to the evolution of civil society within, and then in opposition to, the state. Within each half, the sequence of chapters progressively leavens the argument with the concepts. Lastly, an overview of the chapters included in the book is presented.Less

Bringing Life to Natural History

in Modern Nature: The Rise of the Biological Perspective in Germany

This chapter describes taxidermy and museum collections in relation to natural history. Philipp Leopold Martin's aim was to raise the profile of practice within natural history and simultaneously to ... More

This chapter describes taxidermy and museum collections in relation to natural history. Philipp Leopold Martin's aim was to raise the profile of practice within natural history and simultaneously to make living nature more accessible. A picture of the political economy of natural history in the German states is presented. A central theme of Martin's Praxis of Natural History was a reformist impulse to reconstruct dead animals in a way that was both “natural” and “lively.” Martin knew of both Herrmann Ploucquet's and Franz Leven's work and may have been inspired by them to pursue his own path to a private museum of animal reconstructions in the mid-1860s. The museums of Martin, Ploucquet, and Leven might be viewed as “public” in the sense of seeking a general audience, but they differed from the museums run by states, cities, and voluntary organizations.Less

Conclusion

Stefan Sperling

in Reasons of Conscience: The Bioethics Debate in Germany

This chapter presents a reading of Jorge Luis Borges' story as well as discussing the plight of Germany. It explains context of the political principle of transparency in which the German state is ... More

This chapter presents a reading of Jorge Luis Borges' story as well as discussing the plight of Germany. It explains context of the political principle of transparency in which the German state is committed. It argues that the discourse of bioethics is partly about conducting ethical research and preventing unethical research. It also talks about “Dammbruch”, a dominant German image of discontinuity, which also encodes a continuity, as well as experiences during the Holocaust.Less

The Piratical Enlightenment

Adrian Johns

in This Is Enlightenment

This chapter shows how eighteenth-century German states, as net importers of intellectual property, found that piracy—the free reproduction of books first published by others—could support the ... More

This chapter shows how eighteenth-century German states, as net importers of intellectual property, found that piracy—the free reproduction of books first published by others—could support the Enlightenment ideal of free and open access to knowledge. However, the ensuing debate about the comparative value of a restricted copyright (the English system) and liberal reprinting (German piracy) not only implicates the mediation of Enlightenment (where piracy offers robust circulation of knowledge) but also bears upon what became the most important positive rational for seeing writing as an expression of the self: the idea that the writer is a genius, whose distinct form of thought emerges from a unique self. Ownership in the form of copyright became the primary way of instituting this connection between writing and genius.Less