Corporatism and Regional Economic Policies in the Federal Republic of Germany: The "Meso" Politics of Industrial Adjustment

This article examines corporatist theory (business, labor, governmentinteraction) in the context of regional governments and economicpolicy in the Federal Republic of Germany. West German regionalgovernments, far more than the federal government, have actedto shape industrial adjustment and enhance international competitiveness.Corporatist theory is analyzed in the context of its evolutionfrom a macro to a meso variant, which attempts to address sector-andregion-specific forms of economic dislocation. The new meso-corporatistapproach is found insufficient because it looks only at privateinterests and neglects the regional politics of industrial adjustment.The very different "meso-political" patterns of adjustment areexamined here in a synthetic review of recent research on economicpolicymaking in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, and North-RhineWestphalia. Meso-corporatism may still prove useful theoretically,but only if it includes the role of regional governments.     

Bank power in West Germany revised

This article examines the empirical and theoretical validity of the power of banks over industry in West Germany. An outline of the historical development, structure and institutions of credit in the Federal Republic is followed by discussion of the three alleged factors behind the banks' power: the functional linkage of bank and industrial capital; property rights and ‘personal influence’; the planning and economic guidance capacities of the banks. Finally, it is argued that the thesis of bank power in Germany, in the light of empirical evidence and theoretical reflection, should be somewhat more differentiated.     

Immigration,asylum and citizenship in Germany: The impact of unification and the Berlin republic

In recent years, there has been much debate over whether post‐unification Germany, often termed the ‘Berlin Republic’, represents a substantive change from the ‘Bonn Republic ‘, that is, West Germany. This article analyses Germany's immigration and citizenship policy against this background by examining various dimensions of immigration before and after unification. The article argues that both unification itself and Germany's changed international environment have resulted in far‐reaching changes in policy, which have forced a reappraisal of Germany's traditional self‐image as a ‘non‐immigration country’.     

Zwischen nationaler Identität und Verfassungspatriotismus: Deutungsmuster der politischen Gemeinschaft in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1972–1989

Subject of this study are patterns of interpretation of the political community of the Federal Republic of Germany. This paper has to be seen as a contribution to the interpretative political culture research, whose attention does not apply to subjective attitudes but to intersubjectively recognized normative ideas of the political reality. The significance of “national”, “democratic”, “european” patterns of interpretation is examined in a quantitative-qualitative content analysis of selected debates on the political community of the Federal Republic of Germany. The analysis presents a universalistic value-commitment of the discourse of the West German community.     

Trust in Scandinavia: Findings from Moving Borders between Denmark and Germany

Scandinavian societies express the world's highest levels of trust in surveys and display high levels of social capital more generally. Scholars and policy makers disagree on whether this reflects high economic equality brought about by inclusive, universalist welfare states after the Second World War or historical legacies of political stability and relative social harmony. This article utilizes a geographic regression discontinuity (GRD) natural experiment from history of moving borders between Denmark and Germany to examine the effect of belonging to a Scandinavian state on trust and cooperative behavior. Results from historical Danish rule prior to 1864 in North Germany and German rule in South Denmark from 1864 to 1920 suggest that institutional differences influenced early mass political behavior, but not social behavior. However, such early regime impacts petered out quickly. Today, there is little to no discernable difference in trust attributable to Danish state heritage in North Germany or South Denmark. This suggests that sizable differences in social trust between Germany and Denmark are instead attributable to post‐1920 factors.     

Economic conditions and the popularity of West German parties: a survey

Abstract. The empirical work concerning the relation between economic conditions and the popularity of parties in the Federal Republic of Germany is surveyed. Research in this area started in 1971. During the first ten years (only) traditional econometrics were used. It was shown that the lower unemployment and/or inflation, the higher – ceteris paribus – the popularity of the leading party in government. In the 1980s, using modern time series methods, the validity of the earlier results has been questioned. However, it has been shown that such a relation can also be detected using modern time series techniques. Finally, it is asked whether the observed voting behaviour is consistent with the theory of rational expectations. Using popularity data, the hypothesis of rational expectations can be rejected. Thus, West German voters do not behave rationally in the sense used by Muth.     

Federalism and Party Interaction in West Germany, Switzerland, and Austria

The federalism established in the constitutions of the FederalRepublic of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, in addition tothe common language of these countries, distinguishes them fromthe other West European countries, which lean toward centrallyorganized states. After examining the historical foundationand development of the federal systems in the three countries,the article analyzes the segmentation, federal-state interaction,and intraparty effects of political parties in them. While federalismis strengthened by the heterogeneity and regional solidarityof the political parties in Switzerland, federalism has becomea pure "party federalism" in the Federal Republic of Germanyand Austria.     

Das institutionelle Erbe des „Treuhand-Regimes“ in Ostdeutschland: Zentralisierung oder Auflösung in der bundesstaatlichen Normalverfassung?

The unification of Germany in 1990 deeply affected the traditional structure and mechanisms of the former West German federal state. The grave and deeply rooted economic problems in East Germany as well as the strong position of the federal government and the relative weakness of the East German state governments during the economic transformation made it highly possible that a centralization within the federal state even beyond East Germany would occur. Empirical research on the privatisation agency ‘Treuhandanstalt’ and its successor organisations, which is presented in the article, demonstrates what development the relationship between the federal and the East German states has taken in this policy area since 1990. The article further analyses if the centralization thesis can be confirmed and what can generally be concluded about the essential characteristics of the current federal system.     

Changing chancellors in West Germany

All political systems encounter the need for leadership change at some point. This article examines how the change of chancellors has been accomplished in the Federal Republic of Germany. It argues that the connection between parliamentary elections and the subsequent election of a chancellor has not been the primary reason for a change. Rather, the changes which have occurred reflect the role of the Bundestag and the primary influence of the parliamentary parties in leadership change. The politics of the parliamentary term, rather than past Bundestag election campaigns, emerge as the decisive setting for chancellor change in West Germany.     

Between deepening and widening: Role conflict in Germany's enlargement policy

Although Germany is the principal proponent of the EU's eastern enlargement, it has at times found it difficult to reconcile this aim with its desire to promote deeper EU integration. The use of role theory illustrates these conflicting priorities. West Germany's post‐war role in European politics was that of a promoter of deeper integration; the deepening of West European integration thus became part of the self‐conception of West German foreign policy‐making élites. The changed situation after 1990 placed new demands on German foreign policy makers. West Germany's traditional self‐conception as an integration deepener conflicted with the desire on behalf of unified Germany to press for EU enlargement. However, although German policy makers employed a variety of strategies in order to pursue their incongruous foreign‐policy aims, their principal concern remained with the deepening of western integration.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Vernon Bogdanor (ed.), The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Institutions .
David Held, Models of Democracy .
David Held and Christopher Pollitt (eds), New Forms of Democracy .
David Miller, Janet Coleman, William Connolly and Alan Ryan (eds), The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought .
A. J. M. Milne, Human Rights and Human Diversity .
R. J. Vincent, Human Rights and International Relations .
Stephen Padgett and Tony Burkett, Political Parties and Elections in West Germany: The Search for a New Stability .
Marshall Shulman (ed.), East-West Tensions in the Third World .
Caroline Thomas, In Search of Security: the Third World in International Relations .     

From disguised protectionism to rewarding regulation: The impact of trade‐related labor standards in the Dominican Republic

Policymakers in the Dominican Republic have responded to foreign pressure by rewriting their labor laws and revitalizing their labor ministry. What are the likely consequences? Is aggressive labor law enforcement more likely to protect vulnerable workers from abuse and exploitation or to undermine their ability to compete for labor‐intensive employment in an unforgiving world economy? And what are the broader implications of the answer? I address these questions by analyzing qualitative as well as quantitative data on workplace regulators empowered by the Dominican Republic in response to trade‐related labor standards imposed by the United States and find that they reconcile social protection with economic adjustment by simultaneously discouraging “low road” employment practices like informality, union‐busting, and the exploitation of child labor, and encouraging “high road” alternatives that link firms, farms, and families, on the one hand, to public educational, training, and financial institutions, on the other. The result is a potentially inclusive alternative to the repressive industrial relations regime that fueled export‐led development – and the East Asian “miracle” in particular – in the late twentieth century.     

German Federalism in Historical Perspective: Federalism as a Substitute for a National State

A German national state was founded comparatively late in themodern era. In 1871 the German princes formed the German Empire.Unde Prussian hegemony, the Empire remained dependent on itsmember states. The constitution of the Weimer Republic of 1919turned the relations between the federation and the states upsidedown. The Länder, as the constituent states close to beinga decentralized unitary state. The Nazi regime centralizd it.After World War II, the West Germans and the Western Alliesagreed on forming a federal type of government. There was, however,controversy about the kind of federalism to be established.The West German Basic Law retained the tradition of a secondfederal parliamentary chamber in which the Land governmentsare represented. Sovereignty is shared and exercised jointlyby the federation and the Länder in most domestic policyfields.     

Federalism and the Strong-State/Weak-State Conundrum: Canadian Economic Policymaking in Comparative Perspective

The areal dispersion of power and constitutional division ofresponsibilities in federal arrangements are generally feltto limit the ability of federal systems to improve economicperformance. Examining Canada within a comparative framework,we assess "the federations as weak states" hypothesis as wellas the utility of the "strong-state/weak-state" model itself.Although some aspects of the Canadian federal system—namelythe combination of federal with parliamentary traditions andthe resulting adverse policy styles—inhibit the adoptionof effective economic adjustment policies, these features arenot necessarily found in other federal arrangements. Comparisonswith Switzerland, Austria, and West Germany suggest that, undercertain circumstances, federal power sharing may be conduciveto bringing about broad agreement on both goals and policiesamong national, regional, and local governments and major economicactors.     

Business Associations and the Decentralization of Penury: Functional Groups and Territorial Interests

This article compares the responses of subnational business interest associations (BIAs) in declining industrial regions to the demotion of centrally-administered regional economic policy in favor of regional and local initiatives — a "decentralization of penury"— in Great Britain and West Germany. As an organization that represents chiefly functional membership interests, a BIA is not the most obvious candidate for economic initiatives based on territory. Drawing on a comparison of BIAs in two British administrative regions and two German Länder , I discuss the mix of elements that influence whether business is capable of fighting out politics about territory across territory, either on a local or regional basis. The analytical framework employed is based on Schmitter and Streeck's logics of membership and influence. The findings suggest that business associations formulate and pursue territorial economic interests consistently, yet face powerful constraints generated by their relations with members and by central government policies. Where the spatial economic interests of business are concerned, BIAs in both countries, despite the clear differences in organizational properties and capabilities, are best able to balance the tensions generated by the two logics when government policy encourages a local focus.     

Punishing German Soldiers during the Cold War: The Case of Erich von Manstein

Bloxham examines the events and rhetoric surrounding the trial and premature release from custody of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein. Von Manstein was convicted of involvement in atrocities on the Eastern Front, yet his story aroused the sympathy of many in Britain, including influential politicians, who believed the Wehrmacht to be innocent of the crimes of Nazism. His trial also fell squarely into a period, the onset of the Cold War, when Britain was attempting to restore relations with West Germany. Pressure both from the nascent West German elite and from within the Conservative government (re-elected in 1951) and its foreign diplomatic corps ensured that a series of dubious legal devices would be used to accelerate the liberation of von Manstein at a time of negotiations about a German contribution to a Western European army. Similar contrivances abetted the early release of another field marshal, Kesselring, and a senior general, Falkenhorst. The releases, and the obfuscations of the soldiers' war-time records that were an essential part of justifying the releases, constitute a substantial British contribution both to the undermining of the process of war crimes trials and to the rewriting of the Second World War.     

The politics of corporate crises in West Germany

This article examines the experience of corporate crisis in the major industrial economy of Western Europe. West Germany's experience of corporate crisis is analysed by reference to its legal framework, political context and economic history. Particular attention is given to two modes of crisis management: ‘bank‐led’ rescue and ‘the crisis cartel’. Case studies include AEG, Grundig, the steel corporations of the Ruhr and the Saar, shipbuilding corporations and Krupp. The argument draws on the evidence of mounting problems of corporate crisis management to assess the prospects for the theory and practice of the social market economy in West Germany.     

New World Order and NATO's War against Yugoslavia

The aim of this paper is to examine the main dimensions of the New World Order, which followed the collapse of "actually existing socialism," in connection to the parallel rise of the internationalized market economy. Thus, the economic dimension of the New World Order is discussed in terms of the emergence of neoliberal globalization. The political dimension is examined in terms of the parallel development of a new informal political globalization which is managed by a newly emerged transnational elite. Finally, the ideological dimension is discussed in terms of the development of a transnational ideology, a kind of ideological globalization, whose core is the doctrine of limited sovereignty. It is argued, with particular reference to the Yugoslavian case, that the three "wars" launched by the transnational elite so far (Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan) have been aimed at securing the stability of the New World Order in its economic and political dimensions, by crushing of any perceived threats against it .     

Between state and society: Green political ideology in the mid‐1980s

This article discusses the political ideology of the Greens in the Federal Republic of Germany in the mid‐1980s. Finding limitations in both the survey research and ‘new social movement’ literatures, it argues that Germany's particular institutional and ideological traditions inform the Green alternative and that the powerful tradition of German statism affects Green ideology in two contradictory ways: positively, in that Greens employ statist imagery in both their critique of West German politics and their alternative vision; and negatively, in that Green ideology adopts and reflexively transposes the values of the concepts of German statism.     

Union participation in economic policy making in France,Italy, Germany and Britain, 1970–1993

This study uses a specially‐developed measure of union participation in economic policy making to classify and compare the historical experiences of France, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany and Britain between 1970 and 1993 in order to present a clearer view of the variability of union participation in economic policy making in these countries over this period than has been available up to now. It is found that union participation was concentrated in certain areas of economic policy, in particular labour market policy, and that even high levels of participation were not necessarily linked to union agreement on wage restraint. Over the period as a whole, participation was highest in Italy and lowest in Britain and France, but varied considerably over time as well as between countries. These variations were clearly linked to whether the Left was included in the government of the day as well as to the nature of the national union movements.