Suchergebnisse

State, society, and minority groups in the GDR / Mike Dennis and Norman LaPorte -- Between Torah and sickle : Jews in East Germany, 1945-1990 / Mike Dennis -- Jehovah's Witnesses : from persecution to survival / Mike Dennis -- Asian and African workers in the niches of society / Mike Dennis -- Football fans, hooligans, and the state / Mike Dennis -- Sub-cultures : punks, goths, and heavy metallers / Mike Dennis and Norman LaPorte -- Skinheads and right extremism in an anti-fascist state / Norman LaPorte -- Conclusion : minorities, present and past / Mike Dennis

Based on interviews and the voluminous materials in the archives of the SED, the Stasi and central and regional authorities, this volume focuses on several contrasting minorities (Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, "guest" workers from Vietnam and Mozambique, football fans, punks, and skinheads)and their interaction with state and party bodies during Erich Honecker's rule over the communist system. It explores how they were able to resist persecution and surveillance by instruments of the state, thus illustrating the limits on the power of the post-totalitarian East German dictatorship and shedding li

The relationship between church and state in Germany is conditioned by the centuries-long history of state Christianity and also by the struggle for the independence of the churches over against the state. The churches won their critical power against the state's power in their opposition to Hitler's dictatorship and the totalitarian Weltanschauung of national socialism. Since the division of the two German states in 1961, a church in socialism has developed in the German Democratic Republic. It is willing both to resist the totalitarian claims of its society and also to join into a critical partnership with the state to develop domestic social politics and peace politics between nations. In the Federal Republic of Germany, the Catholic and Evangelical churches are further developing themselves along the lines of a church for the people ( Volkskirche). This understanding of the nature of the church has been repeatedly placed into question since the development of the peace movement in 1981. A critical distance between the churches, on the one hand, and the claims and the political religion of the state, on the other, has consequently developed.

The relationship between church & state in Germany has been conditioned by the centuries-long history of state Christianity & the struggle for the independence of the churches over & against the state. The churches won their critical power against the state's power in their opposition to Hitler's dictatorship & the totalitarian Weltanschauung of national socialism. Since the division of the two German states in 1961, a "church in socialism" has developed in the German Democratic Republic. In the Federal Republic of Germany, the Catholic & Evangelical churches are further developing themselves along the lines of a church for the people (Volkskirche). Repeated questioning of this understanding of the church's nature has resulted in the development of a critical distance between the churches, on the one hand, & the claims & the political religion of the state, on the other. HA

The Cold War over Germany was central to the history of the Cold War—its beginnings, its prolongation, and its end. One of the central elements in America's success in fighting the Cold War was its approach towards Germany: the creation of an economically prosperous, politically stable democracy in Western Germany that was closely integrated with the West. To the Americans involved, the success of this project was far less certain as it may seem in hindsight: West Germany's economic prosperity and political stability had humble beginnings. The Soviet threat exerted pressure that aggravated and distorted the problems of developing a viable democracy. Most importantly, the division of the country and of the former capital Berlin meant that the forces of German nationalism, while temporarily tamed, created an undercurrent of unease and unrest, a latent threat to the very foundations of the Federal Republic and the European settlement that the USSR could exploit. As a result, the United States developed a major psychological and economic warfare program to contain Soviet influence in Germany and combat Communist forces in the German Democratic Republic.

At the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, employees in East Germany were at least as well educated as employees in West Germany in terms of formal educational qualifications. However, it is unclear to what extent the skills and knowledge acquired through the East German education system, and through employment in a socialist labour market, are transferable to the new market-based economy. This study aims to shed light on this issue by giving a comprehensive description of the work of those employees who remained employed after the first phase of restructuring (i.e. in 1991) in East Germany, and comparing it with work in West Germany. Overall, the similarity between workplaces in East and West Germany soon after reunicication is striking. In addition, the patterns of task changes between 1991 and 1999 were very similar in both parts of Germany. Neither the level of task inputs in1991 nor the changes in task inputs between 1991 and 1999 were driven by cohort effects, a surprising finding given how differently the age groups were affected by the historical event. The Largest difference between the east and the west exists in terms of workplace computerisation. Although East Germany has caught up rapidly, it was still lagging behind the west in terms of computer use in 1999.

Abstract
Constitutional politics seemingly corroborate the assumption that Germany is a Grand Coalition state. In this perspective German cooperative federalism and the supermajority required for any amendment to the constitution privilege bargaining and intertwined policy-making as modes of conflict resolution and thus support grand coalitions. In this paper I will explore whether this theory can explain constitutional politics in the German Länder. Firstly, I examine how far sub-national constitutional politics match the functioning of cooperative federalism that is a defining feature of the Grand Coalition state. Secondly, I examine sub-national constitutional politics in the five new Länder and bring the role parties played in this policy field to the fore. Overall, I conclude that cooperative federalism did not impact on constitutional politics in East Germany and that the features of consensus democracy are only partly able to explain law-making in this sector.