Germany after Unification: Normal at Last?

1997 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. James Mcadams
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
A Priori ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
German Identity ◽  
Worthy Goal ◽  
Nazi Past

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the concept of “normalcy” has occupied a prominent place in the pronouncements of Germany's most powerful politicians and policy makers. In addition, it has also suffused much of the emerging literature on the domestic and international implications of German unification. Some observers argue that unification embodies the call to normalcy, offering Germany's leaders the opportunity to put their nation's past behind them. Others treat the events of 1989–90 as part of an ongoing challenge to German identity. Finally, a third group of scholars regards the invocation of German unity as an excuse for papering over the crimes of the Nazi past. Although there is no a priori basis for considering any one of these approaches the most appropriate for assessing contemporary German affairs, this does not mean one's choice of terms is totally arbitrary. If German normalcy is to mean anything analytically, it must minimally represent an attainable and worthy goal to which the leaders of the Federal Republic can aspire in their efforts to make Germany more like other European states.

scholarly journals From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic: The Twentieth Anniversary of German Unification: Introduction

2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
The Political ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Fortieth Anniversary ◽  
The Social ◽  
Berlin Republic ◽  
Twentieth Anniversary ◽  
Sixtieth Anniversary

‘Tis the season of anniversaries in Germany. 2009 unfolded like a hitparade of history. March ushered in the sixtieth anniversary of the foundingof the Federal Republic and May witnessed the sixtieth anniversary ofthe end of the Berlin Blockade. After a summer lull, the seventiethanniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland fell on 1 Septemberand in October, the twentieth anniversary of the first Monday demonstrationin Leipzig took place. Finally, the month of November offered up amajor date—the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall—and alesser one, suited more for the political connoisseur: the fortieth anniversaryof the Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) ratification of the GodesbergerProgram. 2010, of course, culminates in October with the twentiethanniversary of unification.

scholarly journals The CNN effect: can the news media drive foreign policy?

1999 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
PIERS ROBINSON
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Real Time ◽  
News Media ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Tiananmen Square ◽  
Time News ◽  
Tv News ◽  
The Cold War

During the 1980s the proliferation of new technologies transformed the potential of the news media to provide a constant flow of global real-time news. Tiananmen Square and the collapse of communism symbolised by the fall of the Berlin Wall became major media events communicated to Western audiences instantaneously via TV news media. By the end of the decade the question was being asked as to what extent this ‘media pervasiveness’ had impacted upon government – particularly the process of foreign policy making. The new technologies appeared to reduce the scope for calm deliberation over policy, forcing policy-makers to respond to whatever issue journalists focused on. This perception was in turn reinforced by the end of the bipolar order and what many viewed as the collapse of the old anti-communist consensus which – it was argued – had led to the creation of an ideological bond uniting policy makers and journalists. Released from the ‘prism of the Cold War’ journalists were, it was presumed, freer not just to cover the stories they wanted but to criticise US foreign policy as well. The phrase ‘CNN effect’ encapsulated the idea that real-time communications technology could provoke major responses from domestic audiences and political elites to global events.

Prologue: Dinner in Laeken (1989)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Segers
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Recent History ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Two Sides

The period immediately following the fall of the Berlin Wall is key to studying the Netherlands’ role in European integration. After a brief moment of paralysing doubt, this unbelievable turnaround was celebrated as a victory after Europe’s horrific recent history. But when the dust began to settle, the Netherlands found itself in an uneasy position. The Treaty of Maastricht (1992) made German unification and European integration ‘two sides of the same coin’, catapulting the Netherlands into a political situation comparable to that of the 1950s. On the euro’s debut, the country once again became part of a continental circle in which France and Germany set the pace while the UK, Denmark and Sweden wished the Netherlands luck from the sidelines.

Architecture and the Memory of Nazism in Postwar Munich

1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 140-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavriel D. Roseneld
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
German Politics ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
To Come ◽  
Nazi Past ◽  
The Impact

Few issues have possessed the centrality or sparked as much controversyin the postwar history of the Federal Republic of Germany(FRG) as the struggle to come to terms with the nation’s Nazi past.This struggle, commonly known by the disputed term Vergangenheitsbewältigung,has cast a long shadow upon nearly all dimensions ofGerman political, social, economic, and cultural life and has preventedthe nation from attaining a normalized state of existence inthe postwar period. Recent scholarly analyses of German memoryhave helped to broaden our understanding of how “successful” theGermans have been in mastering their Nazi past and have shed lighton the impact of the Nazi legacy on postwar German politics andculture. Even so, important gaps remain in our understanding ofhow the memory of the Third Reich has shaped the postwar life ofthe Federal Republic.

scholarly journals Critically Low Confidence in the Results Produced by Spine Surgery Systematic Reviews: An AMSTAR-2 Evaluation From 4 Spine Journals

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 667-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Dettori ◽  
Andrea C. Skelly ◽  
Erika D. Brodt
Keyword(s):  
Spine Surgery ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Methodological Quality ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Surgical Interventions ◽  
Surgery Research

Study Design: A systematic cross-sectional survey of systematic reviews (SRs). Objective: To evaluate the methodological quality of spine surgery SRs published in 2018 using the updated AMSTAR 2 critical appraisal instrument. Methods: We identified the PubMed indexed journals devoted to spine surgery research in 2018. All SRs of spine surgical interventions from those journals were critically appraised for quality independently by 2 reviewers using the AMSTAR 2 instrument. We calculated the percentage of SRs achieving a positive response for each AMSTAR 2 domain item and assessed the levels of confidence in the results of each SR. Results: We identified 28 SRs from 4 journals that met our criteria for inclusion. Only 49.5% of the AMSTAR 2 domain items satisfied the AMSTAR 2 criteria. Critical domain items were satisfied less often (39.1%) compared with noncritical domain items (57.3%). Domain items most poorly reported include accounting for individual study risk of bias when interpreting results (14%), list and justification of excluded articles (18%), and an a priori establishment of methods prior to the review or registered protocol (18%). The overall confidence in the results was rated “low” in 2 SRs and “critically low” in 26. Conclusions: The credibility of a SR and its value to clinicians and policy makers are dependent on its methodological quality. This appraisal found significant methodological limitations in several critical domains, such that the confidence in the findings of these reviews is “critically low.”

Power in Helmut Kohl's Republic: The Two Faces of German Democracy

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Sa'adah
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
The Other ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Half Century ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Industrial Democracies ◽  
The One

Even as the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall was being celebrated, a scandal was beginning that seems destined to bring the Kohl era, however it is defined, to a close. My purpose in this article is to propose a framework for thinking about the broader political meaning and possible impact of the CDU’s difficulties. In this instance as in many others, I will argue, events in the Federal Republic are best understood if approached simultaneously from two angles. On the one hand, Germany remains bound to, if not necessarily by, its multiple experiences of dictatorship. Viewed in this context, events acquire meaning and significance as part of an ongoing process of democratization, or of an effort to “master” a past to some degree enduringly unmasterable. On the other hand, a half-century after its creation, the Federal Republic is an established democracy with a remarkable record of success and a predictable roster of problems. From this perspective, developments in Germany illustrate dilemmas and dysfunctions common across the advanced industrial democracies.

scholarly journals Government expenditure and macroeconomic stability conundrum in Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-26
Author(s):  
Harris Maduku ◽  
Brian Tavonga Mazorodze
Keyword(s):  
Granger Causality ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Government Expenditure ◽  
The Body ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Vector Error Correction ◽  
Macroeconomic Instability ◽  
Causality Tests ◽  
Macroeconomic Stability

The objective of this paper was to explore the effect of government expenditure growth on macroeconomic stability in Zimbabwe. Public expenditure has grown over time but as per a priori expectations, other macroeconomic variables have not been forth coming. What the country has actually experienced is prolonged macroeconomic instability. The paper contributes to the body of literature in two ways, (1) by creating a macroeconomic instability index and (2) by being the first in the Zimbabwean context to explore this conundrum. To achieve the main objective of the paper, the study used a cointegrated vector error correction model (VECM) and Granger causality with data spanning 1981 to 2019. The study did not find a statistically significant relationship between government expenditure and macroeconomic stability as argued mostly by the Keynesians. However, according to a priori expectations, the relationship turned out to be rightly negative. To buttress the Cointegrated-VECM results, granger causality tests were also conducted where no causality was found from government spending to macroeconomic stability, and vice versa (causality running from instability to government spending). This paper recommends that, Zimbabwe’s policy makers may need to consider proactive government spending or policies, since that helps the economy to successfully avoid possible risks such as macroeconomic instability. When policies are proactive rather than reactive, that helps by seizing untapped opportunities, and the economy justly avoids consequences of reactive governance.

scholarly journals Editorial

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Ullrich Kockel
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
The Political ◽  
German Unification ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Single European Market ◽  
Significant Step ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
Political Divide

With this issue, AJEC returns to its original format as a journal with, for the time being, two issues per year. When the first issue was published in 1990 by the European Centre for Traditional and Regional Cultures (ECTARC), Europe was a different place. As the director of ECTARC, Franz-Josef Stummann (1990: 7), explained in his introduction to that issue, the ‘magical date of 1992’, heralding the Single European Market as a significant step towards European integration, had ‘a substantial bearing’ on the foundation of the journal. Moreover, the Berlin Wall, symbol of the political divide that cut right through Cold War Europe, had crumbled the previous year. German unification was imminent, but very little else seemed predictable. Eighteen years and two Gulf Wars later, not only has the European Union acquired fifteen new member states, ten of them former Communist countries, but we have also been told to perceive a new divide – between a ‘new’ Europe and an ‘old’ one.

Language and (in)hospitality

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cécile B. Vigouroux
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Work Done

Abstract Based on a long-term ethnography of Sub-Saharan African migrants in Cape Town, South Africa, this article examines how language as ideology and practice shapes the rules of guesting and hosting and helps (re)configure the on-going positionalities of both the nation-state-defined-host and the foreigner-guest, making murky the distinction between the two. The key notion of hospitality developed here is examined as practices rather than as identities. I argue that this theoretical shift makes it possible to unsettle the host and guest positions by not positing them a priori or conceptualizing them as immutable. It likewise makes it possible to deconstruct the categories imposed by the State and by which scholars and policy makers alike abide, such as the dichotomy between migrants and locals. At a broader level, the paper draws attention to the Occidentalism that has plagued academia, particularly in the work done on migration. I show how the South African case challenges many scholarly assumptions on language and migration overwhelmingly based on the examination of South-to-North migrations, which do not adequately represent worldwide migrations.

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