Synopses & Reviews
The 55th anniversary of a democratic Germany coincides with other important anniversaries in German history: the 15th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall; the 60th anniversary of the Normandy invasion; and the 90th anniversary of the start of the First World War, the legacy of which haunted the Federal Republic at its founding in 1949. This book examines how the past has placed constraints on the domestic and foreign policy discourse and practices within Germany, how it has shaped the evolution of the German political culture, and how it has hindered the reintegration of eastern and western Germany.
About the Author
James Sperling is Professor of Political Science, University of Akron.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION * Bonn ist nicht Berlin?: continuity and change in postwar Germany - James Sperling * PART ONE: THE ORIGINS OF THE BONN AND BERLIN REPUBLICS * The origins of the Bonn Republic - Karl H. Cerny * The origins of the Berlin Republic - Mary M. McKenzie * PART TWO: THE LEGACIES OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM * Legacies of divided memory and the Berlin Republic - Jeffery Herf * A three-dimensional view of German history: the weight of the past in Germany's relations with Jews in Germany, Israel and the Diaspora - Lily Gardner Feldman * Compensation and the Berlin Republic - Andrew Baker * PART THREE: THE EVOLVING POLITICAL CULTURE OF THE BERLIN REPUBLIC * Public opinion and political issues divide - Robert Rohrschneider and Dieter Fuchs * 'Girl Power': women, politics and leadership in the Berlin Republic - Joyce Marie Mushaben * Social movements in the Federal Republic - Alice H. Cooper * Neo-nazism in comparative perspective: no longer Germany's problem? - Leonard Weinberg * PART FOUR: POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE BERLIN REPUBLIC * The evolution of the German party system - William Chandler * The dynamics of party support in chancellor--democracy: Schröder and his SPD - Clay Clemens * The PDS and the party systems in unified Germany - David F. Patton * Elections in the Länder, 1990-2002 - Arthur B. Gunlicks * PART FIVE: INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AND POLICY INNOVATION * Post--unification German military organisation: the struggle to create national command structures - Thomas-Durell Young * Evolution of the German Bundesbank: from Bank Deutscher Länder to regional bank of the European Central Bank - Karl Kaltenthaler * Standort Deutschland revisited - Michael Huelshoff * Tax reforms and Modell Deutschland: Lessons from four years of red-green tax policy - Achim Truger and Wade Jacoby * PART SIX: THE FOREIGN POLICIES OF THE BERLIN REPUBLIC * The 'German Problem' reconsidered: the impact of unification on the European order - Stephen F. Szabo * Germany and Poland: beyond the past? - Arthur R. Rachwald * Germany and the future of European integration - Emil J. Kirchner * Community breakdown? Germany, NATO and the guns of September - Mary N. Hampton * CONCLUSION * Run, Gerhard, Run: the Reformstau - Peter Merkl * Select bibliography