2444Ch5 3/12/02 5 2:02 pm Page 115 Andreas Maurer1 Germany: fragmented structures in a complex system Introduction: preferences of a tamed power2 Germany’s political class is marked by a positive and constructive attitude towards European integration. The main objective of European policy was and still is to achieve effective and democratic European co-operation and integration.3 All governments and the vast majority of political parties contrive their general European policy agenda around the fundamental aim of far-reaching integration towards some kind
Mobilising the concept of strategic culture, this study develops a framework for understanding developments in German security policy between 1990 and 2003. Germany's contemporary security policies are characterised by a peculiar mix of continuity and change. From abstention in the first Gulf war, to early peacekeeping missions in Bosnia in the early 1990s and a full combat role in Kosovo in 1999, the pace of change in German security policy since the end of the Cold War has been breathtaking. The extent of this change has recently, however, been questioned, as seen most vividly in Berlin's response to ‘9/11’ and its subsequent stalwart opposition to the US-led war on terrorism in Iraq in 2003. Beginning with a consideration of the notion of strategic culture, the study refines and adapts the concept to the case of Germany through a consideration of aspects of the rearmament of West Germany. It then critically evaluates the transformation of the role of the Bundeswehr up to and including the war on terrorism, together with Germany's troubled efforts to enact defence reforms, as well as the complex politics surrounding the policy of conscription. By focusing on both the ‘domestics’ of security policy decision making as well as the changing and often contradictory expectations of Germany's allies, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the role played by Germany's particular strategic culture in shaping policy choices. It concludes by pointing to the vibrancy of Germany's strategic culture.
This book provides an introduction to how the Länder (the sixteen states of Germany) function, not only within the country itself, but also within the wider context of Europe's political affairs. It looks at the Länder in the constitutional order of the country, as well as their political and administrative systems, and also discusses their organisation and administration, together with their financial administration. Finally, the book looks at the role of political parties and elections in the Länder, and considers the importance of their parliaments.
2 German Idealism and early German Romanticism Thinking the infinite The immediate consequences from the 1790s onwards of the perceived failure of Kant’s attempt to ground philosophy in the principle of subjectivity are apparent in two areas of philosophy which carry the broad names ‘German Idealism’, which is mainly associated with Fichte, Schelling and Hegel; and ‘early Romanticism’, which is mainly associated with Novalis, Friedrich Schlegel and (in some respects) Friedrich Schleiermacher.1 There are, as we shall see, crucial respects in which these two
chap 3 27/5/03 11:53 am Page 81 3 Administrative structures in Germany Administration after 1945 To some extent the Allies, especially the British,1 tried after the war to break older administrative traditions in Germany, but the Americans and French looked for guidance at the pre-Nazi administrative structures in their occupation zones. Nineteenth-century organizational structures were largely reinstated under the formula, “a new beginning, but not a fundamentally new organization.”2 But there was a focus on localizing administration, in part as a
chap 6 27/5/03 11:55 am Page 212 6 The German Land parliaments (Landtage) Historical development In the Kaiserreich of 1871–1918, the Constitution gave the central government only a brief catalogue of powers, with all other powers reserved for the states; however, the central state also had concurrent powers and implied powers. Over time the national government assumed more powers through constitutional changes and legislation which also had to be passed by a second chamber, the Bundesrat, that represented the mostly monarchical governments in the states
5 The German phoenix: Berlin 1863 B erlin underwent a period of prodigious growth in the mid-nineteenth century. Between 1850 and 1870 its population doubled from approximately 400,000 to 800,000, making it the largest city in German-speaking Europe, larger even than Vienna. In just a few decades the city had shed its provincial image and was able to compete with metropolises like London and Paris on the strength of its economic, cultural and scientific credentials. In 1871 Berlin would become the proud capital city of the new German Empire. Berlin’s growth
In the twenty-first century, intense debates concerning the university have flared up in Germany. An underlying factor is the general feeling that the country's once so excellent universities have been irredeemably left behind. This book anchors the current debate about the university in the past by exploring the history and varying meanings of the tradition of Wilhelm von Humboldt. It first provides a history of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the history and content of the Humboldtian tradition. Humboldt was involved in Greek antiquity, theory of education, Prussian educational system, and comparative linguistics. If, in spite of this versatility, a comprehensive idea, his Lebensthema, is to be found, it would have to be human beings and their Education. The book discusses the contributions of Adolf von Harnack and Eduard Spranger who emphasised Humboldt as a prominent figure in German university history. It focuses on three of the most influential figures in the post-war debate on the university: philosopher Karl Jaspers, historian Gerhard Ritter, and Germanic philologist Werner Richter. The 150th anniversary celebrations of the university in 1960 saw the eastern Berlin academia claiming to be the bearers of the true Humboldtian spirit and the west demonstrating itself as taking over Humboldt's original idea. The years following 2000 saw most European countries realising university reforms without any notable opposition, but in Germany the Bologna process gave rise to heated discussions in the public sphere.
Longhurst, Germany and the use of force.qxd 30/06/2004 16:25 Page 54 3 Germany and the use of force I: adjusting to life after the Cold War What does a nation do with its liberated power in the post-bipolar age when the 40-year-old strategic threat has disappeared that previously posed all the major questions and delivered most of the major answers? 1 The Bundeswehr has always been less a manifestation of statehood than a means of defending against the Soviet threat. With this threat gone, the very existence of the German military is in question.2 The