I.

Critical Historical Junctures

y
II. Governance and Policy-Making g
III. Representation and Participation
IV Political Economy
IV.
V. Culture and Identity
ƒ Unification
U ifi ti andd Empire
E i (1871-1918)
(1871 1918)
ƒ ‘Marriage of Iron and Rye’
ƒ Wi
Weimar Republic
R bli (1919-33)
(1919 33)
ƒ Problems of German Democracy
ƒ Nazii Era
N E (1933
(1933-45)
45)
ƒ Defeat and Division Burning worthless
ƒ E t bli h
Establishment t off the
th paper money in 
Weimar Germany
Federal Republic
A.
A The Basic
Th ‘B L ’ (Grundgesetz
i Law G d t)
ƒ Basic Rights and Civil Liberties
ƒ Constitutional
C tit ti l Court
C t & Judicial
J di i l R
Review
i
ƒ Federalism
ƒ Länder and division of powers
ƒ Governmental Stability
ƒ Constructive Vote of No Confidence
ƒ Five Percent Rule
ƒ Executive Authority
ƒ Legislature:
L il t Bundestag
B d t g
(Federal Diet) and
B d
Bundesrat t (F
(Federal
d l
Council)
i Chancellor
ƒ Executive: Ch ll andd
President
ƒ The Länder
ƒ Constitutional Court
The German States
ƒ Christian Democrats (CDU-CSU)
ƒ Social Democrats (SPD)
ƒ Free Democrats (FDP or ‘Liberals’)
ƒ Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)
ƒ The Left Party (Die Linke)/
Party of Democratic Socialism
(PDS)

Germany’s CDU Chancellor
Angela Merkel
 Bundestag districts won by party
National Results
The ‘Social
‘ Market Economy’’ (Sozialmarktwirtschaft)
ƒ Role of the State
ƒ ‘Growth with Equity’’ with High Taxes
ƒ Capital and Labor
ƒ Coordinating between Banks and
Large Corporations
ƒ Co determination (Mitbestimmung)
Co-determination
ƒ Culture
ƒ Social Partnership and Negotiated Change
ƒ Strains on the ‘High Everything’ Economy
ƒ Legitimacy of Democracy
ƒ Ethnicity and National Identity
ƒ Gastarbeiter (‘Guest Workers’)
ƒ East-West Division
ƒ Wessies and Ossies
ƒ The ‘Wall in the Mind’
ƒ Germany in Europe and
the World
Q: On which period of German history should we
focus?

Nazi Era? Postwar Democracy?