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The notion of "crisis" plays an important role in both the history of the Weimar Republic and the historiography on this period of German history. Modifying Max Horkheimer's famous dictum on the intrinsic connection between capitalism and fascism, one might even say that anyone who does not want to talk about "crisis" should remain silent about Weimar Germany. In the brief period between 1918 and 1933 Germany not only had to cope with the consequences of World War I and the Versailles Treaty, but also it was struck by two severe economic crises. Moreover, strong political forces relentlessly tried to overcome the unpopular democratic political system. After the National Socialists finally succeeded in overthrowing the republic, Weimar came to be conceptualized as the ill-born precursor of National Socialism, as the critical stage of German history before the establishment of a rule of terror that intentionally led into the most devastating war in human history. This perspective on the failure of Germany's first democracy stems largely from the dominance of National Socialism as a negative point of reference in historical as well as public debates in the Federal Republic.

The article examines, on the one hand, the changes to the concept of energy security in the second half of the twentieth century, particularly in the 1970s, and on the other hand, the influence of these conceptual changes on the overall change to the perception and architecture of 'security'. It argues that the concept of 'energy security' lost its close connection to state and military security while being extended with respect to its spatial scope, reference object, issues, and classification of dangers. This extended the notion of energy security and, in turn, exerted a crucial influence on the overall extension of the security debates from state to human security via the Brandt, Palme and Brundtland Commissions, which tried to address global security issues. Thus, in the 1970s our current energy and security constellation emerged, partially superseding the logic of the Cold War.

Why another article about the "new woman" in Weimar Germany, which for at least twenty-five years has been a favorite topic of historical scholarship in various disciplines? Earlier studies in history, art history, and German and Gender Studies unmasked the "new woman" as a media construction unrelated to the life-world of women after World War I, and newer studies emphasize the liberating tendencies, especially for younger women in Weimar Germany. Broadening these perspectives, I will argue that the concept of the "new woman" and its specific temporal structure can be seen further as a paradigm case for Weimar political and intellectual debates in general. "New women" were conceptualized as anticipations of the future and thus need to be situated and understood in front of the broader horizon of expectation, in the words of Reinhart Koselleck, of Weimar Germany. Because the realm of politics is constituted by expectations of the future, of what will happen and of what may be done, an analysis of the "new woman" and concurring anticipations of the future can, in turn, elucidate the structure and dynamics of political discourse in Weimar Germany.

Das Erkenntnisinteresse des Beitrags richtet sich auf die Frage, warum die Krisenrhetorik in der Weimarer Republik so attraktiv war. Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage wird eine qualitative Inhaltsanalyse von fünf politisch-kulturellen Zeitschriften vorgenommen, die den größten Teil des politischen Spektrums abdecken: Die Tat, Weltbühne, Neue Rundschau, Deutsche Rundschau, Nationalsozialistische Monatshefte. Das Kern-Sample besteht aus 90 Artikeln, die sich explizit mit Zukunft und Krise beschäftigen. In einem ersten Schritt geht es um die Frage, ob die Verwendung des Krisenbegriffs pessimistisch die Furcht vor weiteren Verfalls- und Untergangstendenzen, neutral die Erwartung einer bevorstehenden existenziellen Entscheidung oder optimistisch die Hoffnung auf eine bessere Zukunft nach der Entscheidung ausdrückte. In einem zweiten Schritt wird untersucht, wie die Krisendiagnosen sowohl in ihrer inhaltlichen Gestalt als auch in ihrem Intensitätsgrad von den jeweils verschiedenen Zukunftsvorstellungen abhingen. Schließlich wird gefragt, welche konkreten Zukunftsperspektiven und vor allen Dingen Aktivitätsstrategien direkt aus den verschiedenen Krisendeutungen abgeleitet wurden. Insgesamt wird deutlich, dass im intellektuellen Diskurs der Weimarer Republik der Krisenbegriff nicht in einem pessimistischen Sinn zur Bezeichnung von Verlusterfahrungen und weiteren Abstiegserwartungen gebraucht wurde. Vielmehr passte sich der Begriff in eine bestimmte Form der Zukunftsaneignung ein, die in der nahen Zukunft eine existenzielle Entscheidung erwartete, deren Ausgang von der eigenen Aktivität abhing. (ICE2)

Die Frage, wie menschliches Verhalten beeinflusst werden kann, ist in der jüngsten Zeitgeschichte virulenter geworden. Auf der Basis verhaltenswissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse versprechen Expert:innen, Menschen durch subtile Interventionen glücklicher, gesünder und wohlhabender zu machen. Zugleich haben die Digitalisierung und Datafizierung unserer Welt Ängste vor einer umfassenden Verhaltensmanipulation und -kontrolle verschärft. Das Buch zeigt, dass es keineswegs selbstverständlich ist, Menschen nicht als handelnde Subjekte, sondern als sich verhaltende Organismen zu begreifen. Es untersucht, wie seit der Behavioral Revolution in der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts in verschiedenen Wissensfeldern, von den Wirtschafts- über die Psychowissenschaften bis zur Kriminologie, ein spezifisches Verhaltenswissen entwickelt wurde. Davon ausgehend analysiert es dessen Bedeutung für den Wandel politischer Steuerungstechniken vor allem in Bezug auf das Umwelt-, Gesundheits- und Finanzverhalten seit den 1970er Jahren.

Oil and Sovereignty -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Introduction - Sovereignty and Petro-Knowledge -- Chapter 1 - The World of Oil in the 1950s and 1960s -- Chapter 2 - Shortages, Forecasts, Prevention: Supplying the Western World with Oil -- Chapter 3 - The Global Communication of the 'Arab Oil Weapon' -- Chapter 4 - The Politics of Sovereignty in the Energy Crisis: The Uhited States -- Chapter 5 - West Germany within the World of Oil -- Chapter 6 - Oil Conferences: Global Independence and National Sovereignty -- Chapter 7 - Petro-Knowledge, the Perception of Limits and Sovereignty: Creating the Oil Crisis -- Conclusion - Sovereignty in Crisis and the Oil Crisis in Contemporary History -- Bibliography -- Index.

- Wo liegt Europa? Was ist Zeitgeschichte? Räume und Zeitrhythmen - Die Folgen des Zweiten Weltkriegs, Neuordnung und Kalter Krieg, politische und wirtschaftliche Integrationsprozesse - Die wirtschaftliche, gesellschaftliche und kulturelle Entwicklung Europas: Wirtschaftsboom, Migration und Bevölkerungsentwicklung, Konsum, ""Wertewandel"" und soziale Ordnungen - Die Vorgeschichte der Gegenwart: Zivilgesellschaft, Rechtsstaatlichkeit und Terrorismus, Energie und Umwelt, Technik und Kommunikation

AbstractThis article introduces a special issue on the politics of sovereignty in German history. Historical work provides an important corrective to understand the current discursive resurgence of sovereignty. Historians (and other scholars) should treat sovereignty not as a factual description of the world, but rather analyze it as a rhetorical claim to assert power in territorial, political, economic, legal, and cultural disputes. Much of the power of sovereignty lies in the power to define its boundaries, whether geographical or conceptual. German history offers a particularly fruitful route to historicize the concept, as Germany is arguably both a paradigmatic and a special case in the history of sovereignty. From late-nineteenth-century colonialism to contemporary disputes around gambling restrictions, German discourse on sovereignty has intertwined with and challenged international understandings of sovereignty together with neighboring concepts, such as independence, autonomy, supreme authority, and control. In the twentieth century, perhaps no country experienced stronger affirmations of both sovereignty and the necessity to integrate into inter- and supranational structures than the country at the center of the two world wars and subsequently divided during the Cold War.

The world of oil in the 1950s and 1960s -- Shortages, forecasts, prevention : supplying the Western world with oil -- The global communication of the "Arab oil weapon" -- The politics of sovereignty in the energy crisis : the United States -- West Germany within the world of oil -- Oil conferences : global interdependence and national sovereignty -- Petro-knowledge, the perception of limits and sovereignty : creating the oil crisis -- Conclusion -- Sovereignty in crisis and the oil crisis in contemporary history -- Bibliography

Changes in the energy sector cannot be sufficiently described as reactions to past and present energy problems. Rather, politicians and companies alike always react to the anticipation of future challenges. Sharing this assumption, the articles in this HSR Special Issue reexamine the energy crises of the 1970s. Their assessments broaden the temporal and spatial scope of analysis and integrate various energy resources into the picture, while examining how to situate the first and second oil crises within the 1970s and the contemporary history of the industrialized world as a whole.