COllstructing the Economic Spectacle: The Role of Currency Union in the German Unification Process

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1095-1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Otto Singer
Keyword(s):  
Currency Union ◽  
German Unification

Rejected Architect and Master Builder: George Kennan, Dean Acheson and Postwar Europe

1996 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 437-468
Author(s):  
Wilson D. Miscamble
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Nuclear Forces ◽  
World War ◽  
Postwar Europe ◽  
Master Builder ◽  
The Relationship

This article uses the relationship between George Kennan and Dean Acheson as a lens to track a classic debate over the main lines of postwar American foreign policy, especially in regard to Europe and over such related issues as negotiations with the Soviets, German unification, and the size of and necessity for American conventional and nuclear forces. It clarifies that Kennan did not play the role of powerful architect whose planning provided the blueprint and instructions for building the structure of U.S. policy in Europe. Dean Acheson proved the essential builder of the structures which provided the framework for American foreign policy for four decades. In the process, this article clarifies the nature of the personal and professional dealings of the two men over the period from the end of World War II until Acheson's death in 1971.

scholarly journals EU Enlargement, Migration, and Lessons from German Unification

2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Werner Sinn
Keyword(s):  
Formal Model ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Migration Pattern ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Second Best ◽  
Legal Constraints ◽  
Migration Costs

Abstract The paper studies the role of international implications after EU enlargement. Based on a formal model with migration costs for both capital and labor, it predicts a two-sided migration from the new to the old EU countries which is later reversed. As the migration pattern chosen by market forces turns out to be efficient, migration should not be artificially reduced by means of legal constraints or subsidies to the new member countries. The paper draws the parallel with German unification and points out the lessons to be learned by Europe. The analysis concludes with a brief discussion of the second-best problem posed by the existence of welfare states in the old member countries.

Presidential Address

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer K. Silbereisen
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Presidential Address ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
The Individual

It is well known that human development is influenced by social change. In particular, as evidenced by research on German unification, the rapid change of social institutions can impact on various aspects of behaviour and development. Based on my own research experience in this field, I want to show the necessity for a better interdisciplinary collaboration, for more comparative research across divergent manifestations of social change, and for a strong orientation towards application. The address begins with a record of unwarranted assertions about the consequences of German unification. Following that, I discuss the role played by the change of social institutions in the timing of important psychosocial transitions during adolescence and young adulthood. Next, I present a conceptual model that informed our research on self-efficacy as a resource in mastering the new challenges. I conclude with suggestions concerning the development of interventions aimed at increasing people’s capabilities to capitalise on opportunities provided by profound change in social institutions. At each step, such research needs to be supported by comprehensive models of the interplay between context and the individual. I also underscore the role of ISSBD as a potential broker for new efforts in research and application in this regard.

scholarly journals Denying Difference to the Post-Socialist Other: Bernhard Heisig and the Changing Reception of an East German Artist

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 45-74
Author(s):  
April A. Eisman
Keyword(s):  
East Germany ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Eastern Bloc ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
East And West Germany ◽  
Before And After ◽  
East German

This article traces the reception of East German artist Bernhard Heisig’s life and art—first in East Germany and then in the Federal Republic of Germany before and after the Wall. Drawing on post-colonial and post-socialist scholarship, it argues that Heisig’s reception exemplifies a western tendency to deny cultural and ideological difference in what the post-socialist scholar Piotr Piotrowski calls the “close Other.” This denial of difference to artists from the eastern bloc has shaped western understandings of Heisig’s life and art since reunification. Once perceived as an intellectually engaged, political artist, both in East and West Germany, after the fall of the Wall and German unification, Heisig was reinterpreted as a traumatized victim of two dictatorships, distorting not only our understanding of the artist and his work, but also of the nature of art and the role of the artist in East Germany.

German Unification, Democratization, and The Role of Social Movements: A Missed Opportunity?

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Rucht
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Radical Democracy ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
German Unification ◽  
East German ◽  
German Revolution ◽  
Internal And External Factors ◽  
Missed Opportunity

Citizen movements were an important factor in triggering the peaceful East German revolution that abolished the communist regime and contributed to achievement of elementary civil rights that are taken for granted in Western democracies. However, the movements failed in their efforts to resist quick German unification via the largely uncontested transplantation of the West German institutional system to East Germany. This article analyzes why the movements could not achieve their aim of a new political order, in their view superior to Western type democracy—one that would guarantee radical democracy and extensive social rights for citizens. Drawing on three prominent perspectives in social movement research it is argued that both internal and external factors contributed to the failure of these movements. Although they might have avoided some minor tactical errors, they had few prospects for strongly influencing the course and result of German unification. Because this outcome was overdetermined, it is incorrect to suggest that the movements missed an opportunity to achieve their goal of radical democracy.

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