Monday, February 04, 2008
GERMANY
- provides good example of many of the dynamics of comparative politics
- The concept of state-building has been extremely fluid
- last time rearranged borders was 1991 with fall of Berlin Wall à East Germany lost support from Soviets (now under Gorbachev)
History
- Unification very easy in 1900 after number rearrangements of border in 19th century
- constitution repeatedly defineid : in 1918 at end of WWI with creation of Weimar Republic
o democratic, similar to IIIrd republic
o came to end with last free election in that period of 1932 when Hitler’s party got 1/3 of the votes
o Hitler appointed Chancellor by Hindenberg (Head of State and President): assumption of power entirely legal vs. de Gaulle who came to power ahead of 5th republic by illegal means (outside procedures of constitutional means); once in power, Hitler suspended all elections
o Declared in Versailled in 1918 (same time as Russian Revolution)
o Communists had become very strong in Germany – had been there since 1875
o
- 1933: Hittler put leader of SDP in prison
- Germany usually source of much European trouble
- Hitler’s invasion of Poland and other European countries made Britain fear of attack
- WWII
Post-War reconstruction
- Between primarily US and Soviets with British and French as well
- Divided into four regions
- France controlled Assaince Lorraine
- US controlled southern part and Soviets controlled east
Problems post-war
- reaccomodation of German refugees from abroad
- citizenship defined by blood lines normally ( Jus sanguinis) à always atuned to the fact aht at any moment large number of German could be lost in foreign territory so they would grant citizenship to anyone who could prove heritage à valuable asset for anyone who wanted to get out of Soviet Union
- Helsinki agreement (1975) got many people out of Soviet Union
- Post-2000: rules have changed to allow more people to become citizens but, before then, primarily jus sanguinis applied
- German born outside German territory (aussieglers)
What does it mean to be German?
- need to have German cultural heritage is old one that dates back to Bismarck
- 1948: country swept by nationalist movement revolutionary councils created to call for universal male suffrage; at this time, German broken up
- Bismarck conquered French and declared second German Reich (1871) in Paris
- First Reich was Holy Roman Empireà loose alliance of Italian, central Euroepan states, to make it idea that German are direct descendants of Romans; part of German ideology that they were true inheritors of Romans
- “Kultur Kampf;” creation of German unifited, national culture
o German spoken over central, northern Europe but never one German state
o Should be one state à anyone who didn’t speak language was out but also commitment to greatness of German experience; ideas of grandness brought Germany into WWI
- After WWI, idea of small Germany with no imperialist ambitions and foundation for Weimar Republic
- The German Question: how can Germans be reconciled to not dominate Europe and give up on great ambitions
o Vehicle now is EU; people opposed to grand ambitions of EU are saying its just the Germans using superior economic capacity to dominate Europe and EU is the means (hear this a lot in England)
Weimar Republic and the Communists
- In 1918, aligned itself with soviet union and declared a revolution in Berlin which communists declared that was now part of USSR
- Social democrats took over and dominate Weimar Republic
- Reparation caused Germany to enter severe economic decline (hyper-inflation) in 1920
- With Mussolin in Germany, Communists, socialists, Fascists
- Gangs all over and strikes in 1923 gave rise to Hitlers first coup in Munich (failed)
- From 1933, no free elections
1949 : first year of German Federal Republic and beginning of stable democracy
German considered free after Hitler took power until invasion of Poland: rearmament and welfare
US PROBLEMS During Reconstruction
- local level: couldn’t find people to enter into office who had not been part of Nazis
- Uberprufung: tests to see what people had done
- Impossible to execute entire political class who were active between ’33 and ‘45
1968 Generation
- prosperity and political denial
- serious student rebellions
German Federal Structure
Laender and city-states (Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg)
East Germany