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The article focuses on the ongoing challenges of post-reunification Germany, particularly the experiences of East Germans in the transformation process. Topics include the public perception of East-West differences, the lasting social and economic impacts of reunification, and the role of the "Zukunftszentrum" in addressing these issues through research and cultural reflection. more...

The article focuses on commemorating Dieter Henrich, highlighting his contributions to philosophy and his deep influence on intellectual and public life. Topics include his philosophical commitment to rational life conduct, his dual role as both a scholar and practical thinker, and his active engagement in political discourse, particularly in the context of German reunification and Ostpolitik. more...

Copyright of Arab Journal of Political Science is the property of Centre for Arab Unity Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) more...

Copyright of Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) more...

Previous cross-sectional studies highlight persistent East–West differences in gender ideologies after German reunification. This study examines the extent to which gender ideologies in the East and West have converged and whether differences are still relevant for younger cohorts who experienced childhood around the time of reunification, or after 1989. Using data from the German Family Panel pairfam (2008–2019) and differences in regime-specific socialization for three cohorts born before and after reunification, results reveal that different dimensions of gender ideologies have only partly converged 30 years after reunification. Attitudes towards housework and female employment converged particularly, yet, in all cohorts, views on maternal employment remain substantially different between East and West. Observed convergence occurred only partly due to contrasting trends of modernization in West Germany and re-traditionalization in East Germany. Moreover, the results highlight smaller attitude changes with increasing age, particularly for the younger cohorts, contributing to further variations in East–West differences. Overall, the findings confirm the existence of long-lasting ideology differences due to regime-specific socialization, and a persistently altered composition of society in East and West Germany. At the same time, they point towards slow convergence among younger cohorts due to a more similar institutional and socialization context following reunification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The article draws inferences for the situation in Korea from the experience of the German unification. The focus is on the cultural and mental consequences of the German unification. The article shows that, in the course of the German unification, a West German dominance culture formed which continues to describe differences between Eastern and Western Germany. This dominance culture is based on a devaluation of East German experience and a one-sided, Western interpretation of past and current developments. With reference to a study of North Korean refugees in South Korea, similar mechanisms—in spite of the quite different cultural context—can be shown to exist in Korea. Although the different histories and cultural backgrounds of Germany and Korea necessitate caution in making generalizations, the article proposes that these fundamental mechanisms of dominance are at work in the present relationship between North and South Korea, and should be taken into consideration in the context of an eventual unification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The author discusses the previously published article entitled "1989 at Thirty: A Recast Legacy," by Paul Betts, which appeared in the no. 244 August 2019 issue of "Past and Present." Topics explored include the fall of communism in the Communist Bloc countries, the opening of the Berlin Wall between East and West Germany, and the rise of populist nationalism in Eastern Europe. more...

The article reflects on the plausible approaches for the reunification of Germany. Many people on both sides of the division of Europe apparently have assumed that the division of Germany would become permanent. However, during the campaign for the September 1965 elections in the Federal Republic of Germany, discussions for ways to unify the two parts of Germany has been renewed. It is to be hoped that such discussion will not merely reflect campaign oratory for public office, but will produce genuinely new proposals that might lead to serious negotiations among the powers concerned after the elections. more...

The article presents the author's views on the convergence of the German Bundesländer, highlighting the things that the European Union (EU) can learn from the convergence. East and West Germany was reportedly divided in the late 19th century and was reunited in 1990. Topics include real convergence in the EU, the agglomeration of economic activity, and the distinction between absolute and conditional convergence. more...

In many countries, the process of German unification is of continued interest. While the fact that peaceful unification was possible is generally appreciated, the costs of unification seem to still be of great concern. Yet, they have always to be seen in relationship to costs of division. It may be impossible to work out exactly the final sum of costs of German division. We searched for costs that occurred for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) since 1949 and what we put together is, admittedly, an incomplete compilation, as it is a difficult undertaking which has not been done before. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to calculate the costs the German Democratic Republic (GDR) paid for division. Thus, we can only present an estimate. Costs of division as juxtaposed to unification costs will show that unification in Germany is not even twice as expensive as was division. Many of these costs facilitated normalization and the opening up of East Germany--in the end they turned out to be a most valuable prepayment for German unification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Scholarly introduction to the cooperative project "Who Said Heimat? I'm Only Renting" with Selim Özdoğan [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can states make credible commitments to respect concessions they make as part of national reunification agreements? German leaders negotiating reunification in 1990 had to reconcile West Germany's more restrictive abortion policy with East Germany's more permissive one, and agreed in 1990 to a compromise that seemed to preserve first-trimester abortion on demand in the Eastern states. By 1993, however, that compromise had been undone and the formerly West German policy prevailed throughout the country. This history challenges the theory that commitments made by democratic regimes are credible, especially since there were a number of international and domestic factors present in this case that other scholars have identified as enhancing credibility. We investigate the trajectory of unification-era German abortion policy and make two arguments: the decision by West German leaders to undo their earlier concessions was conscious rather than accidental, and despite Western attempts to reach a compromise that Easterners would see as credible the prevailing view in the East during the negotiations was that the Western commitment was uncertain at best. We conclude with some broader speculation about reunification, and suggest that promises made by a larger partner during negotiations over national reunification have inherent credibility problems that democratic institutions cannot by themselves solve. This implies that future reunifications, for example between North and South Korea or China and Taiwan, may be even more difficult to negotiate than currently recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The article discusses diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and West Germany. Topics discussed include Warsaw Pact, German question and international crisis in Europe. Other topics which includes cold war, foreign policy of East European countries and Bugarian political and intelligence are also discussed. more...

The article focuses on German Question and Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Topics discussed include Polish foreign policy, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR). Other topics which includes international relations and communism are also discussed. more...

The article discusses topics such as the German question, Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and Hungary's foreign policy. Topics discussed include Soviet Bloc, Hungary's relation with Soviet Union and Hungarian economy. Other topics which includes Warsaw Pact and Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) are also discussed. more...

The article discusses German question and East-West conflict in Europe. Topics discussed include reunification of Germany, cold war and détente. Other topics which includes political changes in Germany, foreign policies and Cuban missile crisis are also discussed. In addition, Warsaw Pact is also mentioned. more...

An introduction is presented in which topics within the issue are discussed which includes Conference on Security & Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), Warsaw Pact and German question.

This article focuses on the developments following World War II that led to the creation of the single currency. It will point out how the initial diverging political and economic positions of France and Germany gradually moved toward a degree of convergence. After the death of President Pompidou, France discarded the approach stressing national sovereignty in monetary affairs that had been a feature of Gaullist foreign policy. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany found that the single currency was not just the natural adjunct of the single market, which, at the time, had been the main argument used to sponsor it: the single currency appeared as a way of anchoring Germany’s future to Europe and thus was instrumental in getting Germany’s European partners, beginning with France, to endorse German reunification. The article examines how monetary union became divorced from the economic union that was supposed to accompany it. It looks at the way the monetary union has led to the adoption of deflationary policies in a number of European countries, and how this could be its death knell. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] more...

Copyright of Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) more...

The unification of the two German countries in 1989 shattered the politics, the institutions and organizations of both nations, and the entire society in a unique and unprecedented way. This was especially so for the population of the new Eastern federal states -- the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). The article presents, on the one hand, results of research carried out in both the western and eastern parts of Germany shortly after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 asking for attitudes in terms of the process of unification. On the other hand, there is a focus on the biographical development of two subjects from the former GDR who were interviewed in the early 1990s and in 2012. In these case studies (portraits), differences and similarities concerning their life history will be spelled out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Successive South Korean governments have made every effort to build the foundation for the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula. The Park Geun-hye administration has also emphasized the importance of laying the foundation for peaceful unification and presented it as one of four administrative priorities. However, regardless of which administration assumes office, a state-centric approach has been taken towards the issue of unification. Whoever governs in South Korea, unification diplomacy targeting the four great powers has been their foremost priority. Such a state-centric approach may perhaps be an inevitable strategy to achieve Korean unification, particularly given the history of the division of the two Koreas and international relations around the Korean Peninsula. German unification in 1990 was made possible due to the interaction and cooperation among neighboring powers in the process of the Cold War's collapse. Therefore the roles and influences of the four great powers in the process of Korean unification cannot be understated. However, Korean unification has not yet been realized despite many efforts through the state-centric approach. On the contrary, it is debatable whether the state-centric approach focusing on the great powers has made unification rather difficult due to the serious conflicts of interest among those powers regarding Korean unification. This is the paradox of unification diplomacy in building the foundation for peaceful unification on the Korean Peninsula. In this context, it becomes necessary to recognize the weaknesses of a state-centric approach in the case of Korean unification and to search for new possibilities that nonstate actors can provide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The paper analyses the process of the German Unification in 1989/90 against the background of the historical burdens imposed on the so-called "German Question" since the 19th century. It unravels the complex unification process, which had been completed in less than only one year, and delivers a summary of this epochal radical change from the perspective of the year 2014. On the one hand, the analysis shows the political-institutional, economic and social turning points in the now twenty five years lasting alignment of living conditions in East and West Germany. On the other hand, it reveals the psychological-mental distortions the East German population had to bear during the extremely challenging process of unification. The paper always keeps half an eye on the lessons which can be learned from the historic experience of Germany for a possible unification of North and South Korea. In all due precaution, it concludes with a number of recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article attempts to reconstruct the formulation of US policy towards Eastern Europe on the eve of détente drawing from archival material not available or not utilised by earlier contributions. The central argument of this paper is that the USA, as détente progressed, were finally able to formulate, along with their allies, a policy of expanded contacts with Soviet Union's East European satellites and that this policy of ‘bridge building’ could not, but in the most indirect manner, question the post-war division of Europe. Moreover, this policy did not consider Moscow's allies autonomously but subjected the issue of Eastern Europe to the German question. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] more...

George H. W. Bush backed German reunification with a puzzling degree of enthusiasm. His strategic reasoning was clear and not in dispute, as he desired to keep a unified Germany enmeshed within NATO. Less obvious, however, is his general forgiveness of Germany's past, for which he was pilloried. Yet history was much on Bush's mind in reaching these decisions. Germans had learned from the past, he argued. Europeans had not. They could not keep the peace no matter their ongoing political consolidation, his administration concluded by reading European history, without Americans in their midst. Bush backed unification, therefore, to ensure NATO's survival and thus an ongoing American presence on the continent. By studying Bush's sense of history, and a policymaker's historical sensibility more broadly, historians can thus gain greater insight into this decision and how strategic decisions are more generally formed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] more...

The article discusses the history of corporate law in Germany until the East-West reunification in 1990. The first All German Corporation Law was adopted in 1870. Modern corporate law was established from 1870 to 1897. Meanwhile, corporate law in the country shifted away from the liberal capitalist model in 1897 to 1945. more...

The article discusses European political negotiation in the 1950s with a focus on the 1954 Berlin Conference, and the roles played by the Soviet Union, United States, Great Britain, and France, from the perspective of Italian observers. Topics discussed include the possibility of a reunified Germany, the Soviet proposal for a European security system, and the position of Italian observers on European policy. more...

In Germany there exists a political consensus that the economic and fiscal burden of the German reunification should be shared by all three jurisdictional levels of the federal system. According to existing law the burden sharing between the state and local authorities has to be confined to the excess burden which follows from the financing of the German Unity Fund as well as the integration of the eastern German states into the fiscal equalisation system. Thereby, state and local authorities are in conflict with each other regarding an appropriate economic estimation of the excess burden to be caused by the fiscal equalization system. Against this background the paper explains and illustrates the economic concept of burden in terms of opportunity costs. Taking North Rhine-Westphalia as a case study the quantity of the excess burden is empirically estimated for the time period 1995 -- 2009 by applying a multivariate data analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...