German National Identity in the Twenty-First Century

German National Identity in the Twenty-First Century
Author: R. Wittlinger
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2010-10-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0230290493

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.

Citizenship and National Identity in Twentieth-Century Germany

Citizenship and National Identity in Twentieth-Century Germany
Author: Geoff Eley
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 677
Release: 2007-11-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 0804779449

This book is one of the first to use citizenship as a lens through which to understand German history in the twentieth century. By considering how Germans defined themselves and others, the book explores how nationality and citizenship rights were constructed, and how Germans defined—and contested—their national community over the century. The volume presents new research informed by cultural, political, legal, and institutional history to obtain a fresh understanding of German history in a century marked by traumatic historical ruptures. By investigating a concept that has been widely discussed in the social sciences, Citizenship and National Identity in Twentieth-Century Germany engages with scholarly debates in sociology, anthropology, and political science.

Beyond Political Correctness

Beyond Political Correctness
Author: Christine Anton
Publisher: Rodopi
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2010
Genre: History
ISBN: 9042031980

The articles assembled in this book discuss important questions about German society and the very notion of what being German means in the age of globalization and the vanishing of nation-states in a continuously strengthening European Union; the question about what is German culture in a postmodern era; and how the past affects and shapes the present and future of hybrid German generations. Taking into account not only national but also transnational and recent global developments and concomitant critical debates, this book continues to engage in the discourses of rethinking German national identity, exploring socio-cultural, literary and cinematic responses by German, German Jewish, and other minority authors and filmmakers. These essays focus particularly on trends since the turn of the millennium, and explore how these trends and their new developments are represented and interpreted through the eyes of different media. Beyond Political Correctness: Remapping German Sensibilities in the 21st Century will appeal to readers with a wide variety of academic interests, including cultural history, film studies and contemporary German literature, German-Jewish and Minority literature.

German National Identity after the Holocaust

German National Identity after the Holocaust
Author: Mary Fulbrook
Publisher: Polity
Total Pages: 256
Release: 1999-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780745610443

For over half a century, Germans have lived in the shadow of Auschwitz. Who was responsible for the mass murder of millions of people in the Holocaust: just a small gang of evil men, Hitler and his henchmen; or certain groups within a particular system; or even the whole nation? Could the roots of malignancy be traced far back in German history? Or did the Holocaust have more to do with European modernity? Should Germans live with a legacy of guilt forever? And how, if at all, could an acceptable German national identity be defined? These questions dogged public debates in both East and West Germany in the long period of division. Both states officially claimed to have "overcome the past" more effectively than the other; both sought to construct new, opposing identities as the "better Germany". But, in different ways, official claims ran at odds with the kaleidoscope of popular collective memories; dissonances, sensitivities and taboos were the order of the day on both sides of the Wall. And in the 1990s, with continued heated debates over past and present, it was clear that inner unity appeared to be no automatic consequence of formal unification. Drawing on a wide range of material - from landscapes of memory and rituals of commemoration, through private diaries, oral history interviews and public opinion poll surveys, to the speeches of politicians and the writings of professional historians - Fulbrook provides a clear analysis of key controversies, events and patterns of historical and national consciousness in East and West Germany in equal depth. Arguing against "essentialist" conceptions of the nation, Fulbrook presents a theory of the nation as a constructed community of shared legacy and common destiny, and shows how the conditions for the easy construction of any such identity have been notably lacking in Germany after the Holocaust. This book will be of interest to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in history, politics, and German and European Studies, as well as established scholars and interested members of the public.

German-American Relations in the 21st Century

German-American Relations in the 21st Century
Author: Klaus Larres
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2020-04-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0429757719

German-American relations have become interesting again. U.S. President Donald Trump’s lukewarm policy toward Europe has ensured that the relationship between Berlin and Washington is once again regarded as an important field of scholarship within global politics. And yet it was only a few years ago that German-American relations seemed to take second place to transatlantic relations in general, and the European Union (EU)–USA relationship in particular. The advent of Donald Trump as US President in January 2017 has made all the difference. Trump’s difficult personal relationship with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and his denigration of everything the Western world – including the USA itself – has stood for since 1949, have given a new significance to German-American relations in practice and theory. This volume offers an empirical and conceptual analysis of German-American relations in the 21st century and highlights the serious and perhaps unprecedented challenges the two countries face at present. The authors discuss a number of aspects of the current, much more fragile state of German-American relations from different perspectives. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal German Politics.

Shaping German Foreign Policy

Shaping German Foreign Policy
Author: Anika Leithner
Publisher: Firstforumpress
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN:

Introduction : historical memory in German foreign policy -- has Germany crossed the Rubicon? : the case of NATO and Kosovo -- A trajectory of change? : the case of Afghanistan -- Defender of peace and of the United Nations: the case of Iraq -- Germany's future in Europe and beyond.

(Re)Visualizing National History

(Re)Visualizing National History
Author: Robin Ostow
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2008-03-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1442691506

Ideas regarding the role of the museum have become increasingly contentious. In the last fifteen years, scholars have pointed to ways in which states (especially imperialist states) use museums to showcase looted artefacts, to document their geographic expansion, to present themselves as the guardians of national treasure, and to educate citizens and subjects. At the same time, a great deal of attention has been paid to reshaping national histories and values in the wake of the collapse of the Communist bloc and the emergence of the European Union. (Re)Visualizing National History considers the wave of monument and museum building in Europe as part of an attempt to forge consensus in politically unified but deeply divided nations. This collection explores ways in which museums exhibit emerging national values and how the establishment of these new museums (and new exhibits in older museums) reflects the search for a consensus among different generational groups in Europe and North America. The contributors come from a variety of countries and academic backgrounds, and speak from such varied perspectives as cultural studies, history, anthropology, sociology, and museum studies. (Re)Visualizing National History is a unique and interdisciplinary volume that offers insights on the dilemmas of present-day European culture, manifestations of nationalism in Europe, and the debates surrounding museums as sites for the representation of politics and history.

The Search for Normality

The Search for Normality
Author: Stefan Berger
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2003
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781571816207

The author follows the debates beyond the unexpected unification of the country in 1989/90 and analyses the most recent trends in German historiography, hoping that it doesn't return to the stifling homogeneity that characterized it before the 1960s.

Food, Culture and Identity in Germany's Century of War

Food, Culture and Identity in Germany's Century of War
Author: Heather Merle Benbow
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2019-11-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 3030271382

Even in the harsh conditions of total war, food is much more than a daily necessity, however scarce—it is social glue and an identity marker, a form of power and a weapon of war. This collection examines the significance of food and hunger in Germany’s turbulent twentieth century. Food-centered perspectives and experiences “from below” reveal the social, cultural and political consequences of three conflicts that defined the twentieth century: the First and Second World Wars and the ensuing global Cold War. Emerging and established scholars examine the analytical salience of food in the context of twentieth-century Germany while pushing conventional temporal frameworks and disciplinary boundaries. Together, these chapters interrogate the ways in which deeper studies of food culture in Germany can shed new light on old wars.