The establishment of the Communist social model in one part of Germany was a result of international postwar developments, of the Cold War waged by East and West, and of the resultant partition of Germany. As the author argues, the GDR’s ‘new’ society was deliberately conceived as a counter-model to the liberal and marketregulated system. Although the hopes connected with this alternative system turned out to be misplaced and the planned economy may be thoroughly discredited today, it is important to understand the context in which it developed and failed. This study, a bestseller in its German version, offers an in-depth exploration of the GDR economy’s starting conditions and the obstacles to growth it confronted during the consolidation phase. These factors, however, were not decisive in the GDR’s lack of growth compared to that of the Federal Republic. As this study convincingly shows, it was the economic model that led to failure.
The collapse of state socialism in East Germany brought about a drastic reduction in the labor market and the consequent masculinization of employment. Alsop (gender studies, U. of Hull) asks what processes of continuity and change for women's employment can be identified in the rise of state socialism and it's later demise. She finds that women's reduced chances for paid employment was due both to the perception the men had a greater claim to employment and to the replacement of the East German model of welfare with the West German system which prioritized the nuclear family. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This open access book presents a topical, comprehensive and differentiated analysis of Germany’s public administration and reforms. It provides an overview on key elements of German public administration at the federal, Länder and local levels of government as well as on current reform activities of the public sector. It examines the key institutional features of German public administration; the changing relationships between public administration, society and the private sector; the administrative reforms at different levels of the federal system and numerous sectors; and new challenges and modernization approaches like digitalization, Open Government and Better Regulation. Each chapter offers a combination of descriptive information and problem-oriented analysis, presenting key topical issues in Germany which are relevant to an international readership.
What if the Berlin Wall never fell ... This "compelling" series (Fiona Rintoul) is set in an East Germany that didn't end in 1990. 1993. After forty years of communist rule it's time for change: participatory democracy, citizen's movements and de-centralization are part of a new political landscape in East Berlin. But when a politician's crushed body is found, a constitutional crisis erupts. Ex-dissident Martin Grobe turns detective and his investigations point towards the Stasi, the KGB and the West Germans—has he uncovered a putsch against the new GDR, or is it just a conspiracy to murder? ‘An authentic atmosphere of tension and uncertainty … The brilliance of Stealing the Future lies in the honest portrayal of a young country and its idealistic inhabitants struggling to keep alive their dream of freedom, justice and equality in the face of international and domestic opposition.’ (Jo Lateu, New Internationalist) ‘A compelling re-imagining of East Germany’s peaceful revolution in 1989—exploring what might have been. As Europe grapples with the consequences of austerity, this novel poses questions both about the lost chances of 1989, and about how we organise our society—questions that are becoming more relevant with each passing day.’ (Fiona Rintoul, author of The Leipzig Affair) ‘Creates the perfect atmosphere that existed around the fall of the wall: the sense of hope dashed by the awful reality of reunification.’ (Peter Thompson, The Guardian) ‘An intriguing and gripping page-turner of a thriller—believable and exciting. More than that, though, it's an exploration of power – political, economic and electric power; and what it might be like, day to day, to put our ideals and hopes for self-determination into practice.' (Clare Cochrane, Peace News) ----------------------------- Keywords: East Germany, DDR, GDR, East Berlin, Berlin Wall, Iron Curtain, Cold War, Stasi, MfS, secret police, Volkspolizei, Soviet, KGB, GRU, crime, spy, espionage, procedural, counter-factual, alternate history, speculative fiction, 1989, revolution, die Wende, Eastern Europe, Eastern Bloc, hope, alternative society, consensus decision making, democracy, direct democracy, punks, direct action, anarchy, communism.
The case studies in this book examine significant parallels between the situation in Eastern Europe today and the issues facing Europe and Japan after World War II, offering insights on what kinds of policy actions will be most effective in this difficult period of reconstruction.The breakup of the Soviet Union and the consequent extraordinary problems faced by Eastern European nations raise pressing economic questions. The case studies in this book examine significant parallels between the situation in Eastern Europe today and the issues facing Europe and Japan after World War II, offering insights on what kinds of policy actions will be most effective in this difficult period of reconstruction. The essays address such topics as the relative roles of government and the market; economic openness; industrial conversion from war to peacetime production; the roles of institutions, enterprises, the business community, and their work staffs; and external control of policy measures, of resources made available by the outside world, and of the general external environment. In their introductory chapter, the editors provide an overview that addresses the question of whether reconstruction can ever be managed smoothly.ContentsOpenness, Wage Restraint, and Macroeconomic Stability: West Germany's Road to Prosperity 1948-1959, H. Giersch, K. H. Paqué, M. Schmieding - The Lucky Miracle: Germany 1945-1951, H. Wolf - Inflation and Stabilization in Italy 1946-1951, M. De Cecco and F. Giavazzi - Economic Reconstruction in France 1945-1958, G. Saint-Paul - Reconstruction and the U.K. Postwar Welfare State: False Start and New Beginning, P. Minford - A Perspective on Postwar Reconstruction in Finland, J. Paunio - The Reconstruction and Stabilization of the Postwar Japanese Economy, K. Hamada and M. Kasuya - The Marshall Plan: History's Most Successful Structural Adjustment Program, J. B. De Long and B. Eichengreen - Lessons for Eastern Europe Today, 0. Blanchard, R. Portes, W. Nolling
Through an examination of election campaign propaganda and various public relations campaigns, reflecting new electioneering techniques borrowed from the United States, this work explores how conservative political and economic groups sought to construct and sell a political meaning of the Social Market Economy and the Economic Miracle in West Germany during the 1950s.The political meaning of economics contributed to conservative electoral success, constructed a new belief in the free market economy within West German society, and provided legitimacy and political stability for the new Federal Republic of Germany.
The Golden Bull of 1356 (German: Goldene Bulle, Latin: Bulla Aurea) was a decree issued by the Imperial Diet at Nuremberg and Metz (Diet of Metz (1356/57)) headed by the Emperor Charles IV which fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire. It was named the Golden Bull for the golden seal it carried.
This book contains the revised and updated versions of twelve papers which were presented at the 17th joint seminar of the faculties of economics of the Universities of Nagoya and Freiburg. The seminar took place in 1997 in Nagoya and marked the 25th anniversary of the cooperation between both faculties. The subjects of the book concentrate on long-term economic and business issues common to Japan and Germany on the turn of our century.Firstly, both countries experience continuing and interrelated problems in the labor market, budget deficits, demographic changes and the future of the social security system. Secondly, globalization, technical progress and shift of social values lead to structural changes of the economy and its institutions, particularly to deregulations and network economies. As a consequence, new ways of cooperation between firms, customers and suppliers will be established. Thirdly, the network economy changes also the inner structure and management of the companies in both countries including new organizational patterns such as the holding company or the virtual enterprise, the tight cooperation of small and medium-sized companies, human resource management and compensation.Although the broad issues in both countries - as in other mature economies - are essentially the same, the details under the surface are different and therefore ask for different solutions. The identification of these similarities and differences by theoretical and empirical methods constituted a key objective of the seminar, as well as of previous seminars.
This wide-ranging collection brings together contributions from historians, political scientists, policymakers, and others to provide much-needed perspective on the unification of Germany as it actually played out in real historical time.
