Bücher der Reihe New Perspectives in German Political Studies

This book investigates the parliamentary negotiation of executive secrecy. Parliaments depend on information to fulfil their roles as the people¿s representatives, legislators and overseers of the executive. However, there are examples of executive secrecy across all policy fields. How, then, do parliamentary actors try to reconcile secrecy and the normative demands of an open, democratic society? This volume analyses parliamentary arguments, conflicts and patterns of agreement around this topic in the case of Germany. Based on two case studies ¿ intelligence agencies secrecy and Public Private Partnership secrecy ¿ it argues that substantive justifications of secrecy focusing on necessity are highly contested. By contrast, procedural legitimation of secrecy, namely deciding about it democratically, is crucial. Still, there are inherent limits to the legitimation of executive secrecy. The book therefore underlines the fragility of secrecy¿s legitimation, and its need for constant actualisation.

On October 3, 1990 the future of both Europe and Germany became powerfully and inexorably intertwined across a politically broadened continent powering transformative social, political and economic interactions. The thirty year mark after the then reigning chancellor Helmut Kohl promised 'flourishing landscapes' in the former GDR is more than just a new anniversary from which mandatory reflections must follow. Arguably, it represents a temporal boundary between the adjustments and reactions conditioned and captivated by a sense of something new and uncertain, and that point moving forward from which unification¿s legacy inescapably tethers Germany¿s future to normal politics shaped by the issues of the moment, and not politics gripped by the debates of unification itself. That legacy is defined by an accumulation over thirty years of adjustments, mutations, counter-adjustments and strategic reactions which have now delivered through the many ripples of change a Germany managing thecourse-trajectory which unification has relentlessly plotted. The foreseeable future will certainly see that legacy of unification tenaciously continue to project yet shrouded within the background of Germany¿s routine politics. This volume explores that legacy within the post-unification era and reflects on the way forward into a near-term German future no longer consumed with unification itself but with the reality of politics it has steadily defined.

¿This book provides an account of the reforms undertaken in German federalism throughout the 2000¿s. It explores the consequences of the historic changes made to the German federal order through detailed analysis of a set of unique case study areas. It also evaluates the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic on German federalism, and the relationship between party politics and federalism in Germany. The authors investigate what happens when policy responsibility is decentralized. The reforms undertaken in Germany fundamentally altered the roles played by the federal and state-level governments in several policy fields, and the question as to what kind of impact this has for policy itself is a global one. In a world that sees an increasing trend towards the decentralization of political authority, this book offers insights and lessons that have a practical application on a global scale. It will find the interest of students and scholars in countries worldwide which are grappling with thenature of policy responsibility across levels of political authority.

This book provides a systematic overview of the prevalence, causes, and stability of left-wing and right-wing extremist attitudes in Germany between 1994 and 2017.

This study assesses the influence of German policy makers on EU policy and the impact of EU membership on foreign policy making at the national level. The book concludes that limitations remain on the Europeanization of German foreign and security policy and Germany's ability to play a leading role in military crisis management.

This book examines the impact on member states of long-term foreign policy co-operation through the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).

Notwithstanding its contemporary critics, political representation remains at the core of democratic politics.

This book builds upon our knowledge of the far-reaching economic, political and social effects of the Euro crisis on the European Union by providing a unique study of European identities.

Migration expert Bastian Vollmer explores the contentious issue of irregular migration in the highly-charged contexts of Germany and the UK. Through policy and discourse analysis the author explains why, despite the differing contexts and migration histories, German and British policy responses to the issue are now on a convergent path.

Political Parties and Public Policy in the German Lander considers the extent to which, and in what circumstances, political parties affect public policy. Exploring the regional level in Germany; using case studies in the areas of education, childcare and family, and labour market policy.

Wittlinger takes a fresh look at German national identity in the 21st century and shows that it has undergone considerable changes since unification in 1990. Due to the external pressures of the post-cold war world and recent domestic developments, Germany has re-emerged as a nation which is less hesitant to assert its national interest.

This book traces shifting attitudes towards science and technology, nature and the environment in Twentieth-century Germany. It approaches them through discussion of a range of literary texts and explores the philosophical influences on them and their political contexts, and asks what part novels and plays have played in environmental debate.

What will German foreign policy look like in 2015? This book speculates by making a provocative argument: what drives German foreign policy is its power position in Europe and on the international stage. Crawford examines Germany's manoeuvres in the Balkans, its role in EMU, and its leadership in curbing Europe's proliferation of WMD technology.

This new interpretation analyzes some of the central enigmatic features of his writing, arguing that they result from the co-presence of religious scepticism and the desire for a religious foundation of social life.

This book provides the first systematic and comparative analysis of the German right-wing populist protest movement "PEGIDA". It offers an in-depth reconstruction of the movement's historical development, its organisational structure and its programmatic orientation. It depicts the protestors and their motivations, reactions in politics, media and society, and PEGIDA's European network. The volume presents and compares the results of scientific surveys among PEGIDA-participants and brings them into the context of long-time studies on political culture in Germany, representing a comprehensive study of the emergence of contemporary right-wing populist movements. The book will be of interest to researchers, academics and students focusing on comparative politics, (right-wing) populism, protest movements in western democracies, and political culture in Germany, as well as journalists, political educators and policy makers.

This book examines attitudes towards democracy in the Federal Republic of Germany. Overall, the findings challenge suggestions of a crisis of democracy but they also demonstrate that support is particularly low towards aspects of the European Union.

This book examines the impact on member states of long-term foreign policy co-operation through the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).

Before the fall of the Berlin Wall many East German writers were praised in the Western world as dissident voices of truth, bravely struggling with the draconian constraints of living under the GDR's communist regime.

Notwithstanding its contemporary critics, political representation remains at the core of democratic politics.

This book provides the first systematic and comparative analysis of the German right-wing populist protest movement ΓÇ£PEGIDAΓÇ¥. It offers an in-depth reconstruction of the movementΓÇÖs historical development, its organisational structure and its programmatic orientation. It depicts the protestors and their motivations, reactions in politics, media and society, and PEGIDAΓÇÖs European network. The volume presents and compares the results of scientific surveys among PEGIDA-participants and brings them into the context of long-time studies on political culture in Germany, representing a comprehensive study of the emergence of contemporary right-wing populist movements. The book will be of interest to researchers, academics and students focusing on comparative politics, (right-wing) populism, protest movements in western democracies, and political culture in Germany, as well as journalists, political educators and policy makers.

This comprehensive, in-depth assessment of the German foreign policy record under the Red-Green government of Gerhard Schroeder and Joschka Fischer from 1998 to 2005, produced by a team of German and international experts, explores the idea of continuity and the sources, depths and directions of German foreign policy.

This book explores the German idea of federalism denoting 'diversity within unity'. Historians, linguists and political scientists examine how federalism emerged in the Holy Roman Empire, was re-shaped by nineteenth-century cultural movements, and was adopted by the unified state in 1871 and again after 1945.

Departing from the recent critical literature on the emergence of a new German Jewry, this volume proposes a new perspective on the post-1980s phenomenon of re-emerging Jewish culture in Germany as a case study for wider developments in Europe and the international context.

This is the first study of mass media in Germany from a social and cultural-historical perspective. Beyond the conventional focus on organizational structures or aesthetic content, it investigates the impact the media has on German society under varying political systems, and how the media is shaped by wider social, political and cultural context.

This study of the German right-extremist movement looks at the three rightist political parties, neo-Nazi groups, skinhead gangs, and New Right intellectuals. It poses the question whether, at a time of global recession, the existing democratic system is resilient enough to meet the challenges posed by the xenophobic and racist groups.