German Deunification

2020 ◽  
pp. 44-60
Author(s):  
Ingar Solty ◽  
Darko Vujica

In 2021, Angela Merkel's fourth and last term as the chancellor of Germany will end. To understand Merkel's domestic and foreign policy, one must understand the country she inherited. She came to power in 2005 following the first center-left government since 1982, the government of Gerhard Schröder, and was in the fortunate position of becoming chancellor after a coalition government of social democrats and Greens had done the devil's bidding of implementing very unpopular neoliberal policies to the sole benefit of German capital and the rich.

Author(s):  
Martin Ejnar Hansen

The formation of Danish governments and their governance continues to be of interest both on their own and comparatively. Minority coalition governments are the norm in Denmark, increasing the importance of support parties for the government to pass its policies. Danish politics can increasingly be seen as two blocs: the ‘red’ bloc led by the Social Democrats and the ‘blue’ bloc led by the Liberals (although it was the Conservatives in the 1980s). This division may have increased the tendency of the presidentialization of Danish politics, not least with the prime minister’s increasing engagement in the day-to-day running of the government, especially with regard to foreign policy. Similarly, the minister of finance is ever more important as well for the day-to-day running of other departments. Ministerial turnover through reshuffles happens during the tenure of most governments, but portfolio redesign mostly occurs when governments are formed. The distribution of portfolios is proportional, but there is much variation in which portfolios parties prefer, with some valuing importance over number of portfolios. Overall, the Danish government and prime minister is a well-researched area, although there is still significant scope for research innovation.


Subject Brazilian foreign policy under Aloysio Nunes. Significance Senator Aloysio Nunes, who took office as foreign minister on March 7, is an experienced politician from the centre-right Social Democrats (PSDB). He led the bloc supporting the government of President Michel Temer in the Senate, where he was also since 2015 head of the Commission of Foreign Affairs and National Defence. Nunes replaces Jose Serra at the foreign ministry and will seek overall continuity of Serra's agenda focused on the pursuit of trade opening and border security. Impacts Brazil lacks a clear strategy for its crucial relationship with China. Border security, a key issue for Serra, will remain important for Nunes. Domestic politics may divert Nunes’s attention as the 2018 elections approach.


2006 ◽  
pp. 54-75
Author(s):  
Klaus Peter Friedrich

Facing the decisive struggle between Nazism and Soviet communism for dominance in Europe, in 1942/43 Polish communists sojourning in the USSR espoused anti-German concepts of the political right. Their aim was an ethnic Polish ‘national communism’. Meanwhile, the Polish Workers’ Party in the occupied country advocated a maximum intensification of civilian resistance and partisan struggle. In this context, commentaries on the Nazi judeocide were an important element in their endeavors to influence the prevailing mood in the country: The underground communist press often pointed to the fate of the murdered Jews as a warning in order to make it clear to the Polish population where a deficient lack of resistance could lead. However, an agreed, unconditional Polish and Jewish armed resistance did not come about. At the same time, the communist press constantly expanded its demagogic confrontation with Polish “reactionaries” and accused them of shared responsibility for the Nazi murder of the Jews, while the Polish government (in London) was attacked for its failure. This antagonism was intensified in the fierce dispute between the Polish and Soviet governments after the rift which followed revelations about the Katyn massacre. Now the communist propaganda image of the enemy came to the fore in respect to the government and its representatives in occupied Poland. It viewed the government-in-exile as being allied with the “reactionaries,” indifferent to the murder of the Jews, and thus acting ultimately on behalf of Nazi German policy. The communists denounced the real and supposed antisemitism of their adversaries more and more bluntly. In view of their political isolation, they coupled them together, in an undifferentiated manner, extending from the right-wing radical ONR to the social democrats and the other parties represented in the underground parliament loyal to the London based Polish government. Thereby communist propaganda tried to discredit their opponents and to justify the need for a new start in a post-war Poland whose fate should be shaped by the revolutionary left. They were thus paving the way for the ultimate communist takeover


2019 ◽  
pp. 78-103
Author(s):  
S.A. Romanenko

The article is devoted to the analysis of representations about AustriaHungary in Russia in political and publicists societies including Bolsheviks, Social Democrats, liberals (cadets), as well as MFA analysts from February to October. On the basis of the materials on foreign policy and the correlation of revolution and world war, from Russian daily press and journalists, which have not been studied before, the author comes to the conclusion that the representatives of the left flank of the political spectrum had neither information nor conceptually built ideas about the situation in AustriaHungary, about the perspectives for the development of revolutionary processes in the multinational state and its direction and aims. On the other hand, this was also largely characteristic of the moods of the AustroHungarian politicians, whether progovernment or opposition,Статья посвящена анализу представлений об АвстроВенгрии в России в политических и публицистических обществахв том числе большевиков, социалдемократов, либералов (кадетов), а также аналитиков МИД с февраля по октябрь. На основе материалов по внешней политике и соотношение революции и мировой войны, из российской ежедневной прессы и журналистов, которые до этого не изучались, автор приходит к выводу, что представители левого фланга политического спектра не имели ни информации, ни концептуально выстроенных представлений о ситуации в АвстроВенгрии, о перспективах развития революционных процессов в многонациональном государстве и его направленности, а также о том, что они не могли цели. С другой стороны, это было также в значительной степени характерно для настроений австровенгерских политиков, будь то проправительственные или оппозиционные, для которых цели национального движения уже в 1917 году играли гораздо большую роль, чем для русских. Для сравнительного анализа на основе архивных материалов приводятся позиции Министерства иностранных дел (Временного правительства) и Петроградского Совета.


Modern Italy ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaella A. Del Sarto ◽  
Nathalie Tocci

Focusing on Italy's Middle East policies under the second Berlusconi (2001–2006) and the second Prodi (2006–2008) governments, this article assesses the manner and extent to which the observed foreign policy shifts between the two governments can be explained in terms of the rebalancing between a ‘Europeanist’ and a transatlantic orientation. Arguing that Rome's policy towards the Middle East hinges less on Italy's specific interests and objectives in the region and more on whether the preference of the government in power is to foster closer ties to the United States or concentrate on the European Union, the analysis highlights how these swings of the pendulum along the EU–US axis are inextricably linked to a number of underlying structural weaknesses of Rome's foreign policy. In particular, the oscillations can be explained by the prevalence of short-term political (and domestic) considerations and the absence of long-term, substantive political strategies, or, in short, by the phenomenon of ‘politics without policy’ that often characterises Italy's foreign policy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Zarul Arifin

This research is based on an initial survey of the distribution of subsidized 3-kg LPG which I think is not right on target because it is full of fraudulent practices. In distributing LPG, it was found that many rich people still buy subsidized 3-kg LPG. In fact, according to government regulations, 3-kg LPG is intended for the poor economic community or small business owners. The problem that is the focus of this research is how the mechanism for distributing 3-kg LPG is in Sajad Regency, and how is the law on selling 3-kg LPG for the rich when viewed according to Islamic law. To answer these questions, data collection techniques were carried out through observation and interviews. The results of this study are 1) the distribution of 3-kg LPG is not in accordance with government regulations, namely the distribution of LPG prioritizes people who can afford it above the official price, while the poor can only get a small part of the official government price/national subsidy price, so there are more stock for sale at more expensive than the official price. 2) If viewed from Islamic law, the distribution of 3-kg LPG is not in accordance with the sharia business method because it is carried out by ignoring government regulations, namely traders are considered to have broken an agreement with the government regarding price determination. In addition, this buying and selling practice also lacks supervision, no sanctions and no law enforcement to maintain subsidy prices so that many sellers dare to violate contracts with the government and violate government regulations.


1990 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Larry W. Bowman

Relationships between U.S. government officials and academic specialists working on national security and foreign policy issues with respect to Africa are many and complex. They can be as informal as a phone call or passing conversation or as formalized as a consulting arrangement or research contract. Many contacts exist and there is no doubt that many in both government and the academy value these ties. There have been, however, ongoing controversies about what settings and what topics are appropriate to the government/academic interchange. National security and foreign policy-making in the U.S. is an extremely diffuse process.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 947-968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua C Gordon

AbstractOver the past 25 years, Sweden has gone from having one of the most generous unemployment benefit systems among the rich democracies to one of the least. This article advances a multi-causal explanation for this unexpected outcome. It shows how the benefit system became a target of successive right-wing governments due to its role in fostering social democratic hegemony. Employer groups, radicalized by the turbulent 1970s more profoundly than elsewhere, sought to undermine the system, and their abandonment of corporatism in the early 1990s limited unions’ capacity to restrain right-wing governments in retrenchment initiatives. Two further developments help to explain the surprising political resilience of the cuts: the emergence of a private (supplementary) insurance regime and a realignment of working-class voters from the Social Democrats to parties of the right, especially the nativist Sweden Democrats, in the context of a liberal refugee/asylum policy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Askerov

With the advancement of power in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has introduced revolutionary policies in Turkey in various realms, including foreign affairs. The new trend in the foreign policy focused on not having problems with neighbors. This could be possible or nearly possible theoretically but eliminating century-long and deep-rooted conflicts with some of the neighbors would not be easy in practice. The new idealistic/moralistic approach necessitated new ways of policy formulation based on mutual gains and unthinkable concessions on the part of Turkey. Ankara’s new approach had given a special importance to building bridges of trust with the neighbors, which also seemed attractive to the political leaders of the neighboring states. This idealistic/moralistic approach was vulnerable to the dynamic political and economic developments in the region and the world in general. The policy did not have a power of sustainability due to the various old, new, and emerging problems around Turkey and hence, the government had to give it up gradually and take a new course of foreign policy based on realistic approaches to defend its national interests.


Author(s):  
Alexander Vinogradov

Introduction. The author examines the insufficiently studied period of diplomatic communicationsof the Moscow Tsardom and the Crimean Khanate after Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov’s enthronement, which led to establishing relatively peaceful mutual relations between them at the final stage of military and political confrontation of Russia with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Swedish Crown. Materials. The paper reveals the circumstances of establishing contractual relations between Moscow and Bakhchysarai on the basis of unpublished sources. The information from the columns of 1613–1614 about the stay of the embassy of A. Lodyzhensky and P. Danilov in the Crimea from autumn of 1613 to July 1614, the preparation and holding of the embassy congress and exchange of ambassadors at Livny in August 1614, the stay of the embassy of Prince G.K. Volkonsky and P. Ovdokimov in the Crimea in August 1614 – June 1615, the stay of Magmet Chelebi’s embassy in Moscow in September 1614 – March 1615 and, finally, the embassy exchange under Valuyki in July 1615 form a single set of documents that let us trace the course of diplomatic relations between the Moscow Tsardom and the Crimean Khanate in 1613–1615. The decisive stage in difficult and tense diplomatic negotiations of the parties in this period, in our opinion, is the stay of the embassy of Prince Grigory Konstantinovich Volkonsky and clerk Peter Ovdokimov in the Crimea. Results. This article shows the role of relations with the Crimea in general foreign policy of the government of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich and in the restoration of military and political control over the Lower Volga Region territory.


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