Of Anti-Zionists and Antideutsche: The Post-War German Left and Its Relationship with Israel

The semicentennial anniversary in 2017 of the 1967 Middle East War is an occasion to reflect on the impact of a war that brought dramatic changes to the Middle East and beyond. One of the ramifications of the Israeli victory in 1967 was the growing criticism of the Jewish state among the European Left—a movement that held largely positive attitudes regarding Israel up until the so-called Six Day War. These shifting sentiments also affected the relations between the Jewish State and the emerging “New Left” of the young Federal Republic of Germany—a country that would become one of Israel’s most important allies. This article examines the relationship between the German Left and Israel over five decades. It proceeds chronologically by tracing the shifting view toward Israel occasioned by the 1967 war, before examining the evolution of that relationship to the current era. We conclude with a discussion of the drivers behind the complex and uneven relationship, and we argue that these sentiments are closely connected to perceptions of self-identity among members of the German Left.     

Supporting political debate while building patterns of trust: the role of the German political foundations in Tunisia (1989–2017)

This article focuses on a specific aspect of the international context surrounding the Tunisian transition to democracy. Through the case of the German political foundations in Tunisia, this study argues that the country’s journey to democracy has not been an exclusively domestic affair, but has also been the product of the engagement of international actors and their interplay with domestic groups. Building on evidence from semi-structured interviews and data triangulation the article shows that since the late 1980s four German political foundations operating in Tunisia created platforms for ‘political debate’ – alternative to the regime’s but not subversive – and encouraged political training. The article posits that initially the German political foundations helped Ben Ali’s regime in the making of a ‘façade liberalisation’, while in the long run their activities generated unintended consequences that in part undermined its ‘authoritarianism upgraded’. The article demonstrates that their longstanding presence on the ground allowed the German political foundations to develop patterns of trust with and between political and civil groups, ultimately improving the capacity of their action after the revolution.     

Regime change and the convergence of democratic value orientations through socialization. Evidence from reunited Germany

Theories of socialization and political culture claim that public ideas about how a democracy should be shaped will only change slowly after regime changes. Thus, citizens’ value orientations should converge after a replacement of generations and through institutional learning. Pertaining to the development and convergence of individual conceptions of democracy or democratic value orientations, these assumptions have not yet been tested empirically. This article therefore provides an empirical test, drawing on the case of German reunification as a natural experiment. I analyse the development of democratic value orientations based on data from the sixth wave of the European Social Survey using both factor and cohort analysis. The findings provide strong support for the assumptions of socialization theories: More than 20 years after reunification, people who grew up in East Germany still show a higher affiliation to a socialist model of democracy than people socialized in the West, who instead show higher support for a liberal model. However, differences in democratic value orientations are converging for citizens less than 30 years of age across Germany, the first generation socialized entirely in a democratic political system.     

Reparations for Historical Human Rights Violations: The International and Historical Dimensions of the Alien Torts Claims Act Genocide Case of the Herero of Namibia

Between 1904 and 1908, German colonialists in German South West Africa (GSWA, known today as Namibia) committed genocide and other international crimes against two indigenous groups, the Herero and the Nama. From the late 1990s, the Herero have sought reparations from the German government and several German corporations for what occurred more than a hundred years ago. This article examines and contextualizes the issues concerning reparations for historical human rights claims. It describes and analyzes the events in GSWA at the time. It further explores whether international humanitarian law and international human rights law today permit reparatations to be obtained. The article therefore examines the origins of international criminal law, as well as international human rights and humanitarian law, to determine whether what occurred then were violations of the law already in force. Finally, the article examines and evaluates the Herero reparations cases, as well as the potential impact of the cases on the wider reparations movement that sees an increasing number of claims for events that occurred during colonial times.

Religion and National Identity in America and Europe

America and Europe have had very different religious experiences, and these differences have continuing consequences. In America, the preponderance of Reform Protestantism gave rise to religious and political pluralism, a religious marketplace, and the continuing vitality of the churches. In Europe, the dominance of state churches gave rise to the eventual rejection of these churches and religions when the traditional political and social authorities were rejected, particularly by the Generation of 1968. However, Europe’s extreme secularization has rendered it confused and ineffective in dealing with the new religious challenge posed by Muslim immigrant communities.

Ethnic Cleansing in Silesia 1950-89 and the Ennationalizing Policies of Poland and Germany

The rise of nationalism in Central Europe in the nineteenth century had dire consequences for Silesia, the far-flung, multi-ethnic frontier region of Prussia/Germany, bordering on Austria-Hungary and Russia. The dividing up in 1921 of Upper Silesia between Germany and the newly established Polish nation-state, and the ensuing ennationalization of both regions, triggered off population movements of 300,000 persons before 1939, when Berlin seized the whole of Upper Silesia and embarked on a policy of thorough Germanization. After 1945 this was succeeded by Polonization as Moscow granted most of the German territories east of the Oder-Neisse line (including almost the whole of Silesia) to Poland. In consequence, almost the entire Lower Silesian population either fled, was evacuated in 1944-5 or expelled by 1948, and the region was repopulated by Poles. The same was true in Upper Silesia but to a more limited degree as Warsaw decided to retain most of the local population: as 'Poles', they would 'justify' incorporation of the region into Poland, and they would continue to run the Upper Silesian industries so badly needed for the country's reconstruction. Although officially recognized as Poles, Upper Silesians were treated as second-class citizens. Whereas, by 1960, almost all of the remaining Lower Silesian Germans had been allowed to leave, this option was not available to Upper Silesians who, as a result, became more alienated, more German-orientated and even more deeply identified with their specific ethnic groups. Consequently, although Warsaw could not recognize them as non-Poles as it would contradict the offical myth of the state's ethnic homogeneity, an increasing number were allowed to leave for West Germany, especially after Bonn's major concessions to the Polish Communist regime in 1970 which had the dual effect of making hard-to-come-by goods more available for 'real' Poles, and of replenishing the conservative electorate in West Germany. On the other hand, those who stayed successfully defied Poland's ennationalizing policies by the establishment of various German organizations. The emigration of 1950-89 was in fact an 'ethnic cleansing' as it was originally set off by discrimination on ethnic grounds; the growing disparity in living standards between West Germany and Poland was accompanied of a similar gap in the granting of civil and human rights.     

Personality traits and party identification over time

Why do some people stably identify with a party while others do not? This study tests whether and how the direction, stability and strength of party identification are associated with big five personality traits, using panel data from a representative sample of German citizens. First, the study confirms that personality traits are related to identification with different political parties. Second, it moves beyond previous research by showing that personality traits are related to the strength and variation in party identification over time. The implications of the study for the classical perspectives on party identification, as well as the personality and politics literature, are discussed.     

The Future of Staatsrecht: Dominance,Demise or Demystification?

The relationship between the national and the European legal orders is affected by the way it is theorised by the national constitutional traditions. This article will explore the opposing constitutional assumptions in Germany that underlie two interpretations of what in Anglo-Saxon countries is known as constitutional law: Staatsrecht and Verfassungsrecht. The two contending visions are generated from different conceptions of the European Union and, especially, the state. The origins of the German constitutional traditions will be historically reconstructed. Although Staatsrecht has historically offered the dominant interpretation of public law, Verfassungsrecht has 'de-mystified' the state. To continue to offer a coherent interpretation Staatsrecht need not abandon the state as its central concept, but will need to re-examine the content of the concept in light of modern forms of constitutionalism and European integration.     

德、日刑法定罪模式与刑法机能的实现

定罪机制是刑法与社会联为一体的中介 ,是刑法机能实现的重要途径。德、日刑法定罪模式是一种构成要件论的定罪模式 ,只有顺次通过构成要件该当性、违法性、有责性三重判断的行为才能认定为犯罪行为 ,保障了被告人及其他人的自由 ;同时 ,在构成要件该当性、违法性、有责性的判断过程中 ,通过有意识地放弃刑法干预特定领域内的行为的方式 ,保护了社会的进步和发展。促进刑法人权保障机能的实现是德、日刑法定罪模式促进刑法机能实现的主流     

试析《德国税法通则》对我国当前立法的借鉴意义

《税收基本法(或税法通则)》的制定是关系到我国税收法律体系的重新整合与完善,关系到纳税人权利保护与国家征税权实现的平衡,关系到最终实现和谐的税收征纳关系的税收法治建设的基础环节.在制定税法通则的过程中,对国家与纳税人之间的权利义务将产生重大的影响,因此,必须兼顾各方当事人的利益,加以平衡协调.为积极推进该浩大的税收立法工程,对外国先进的立法经验应当有所借鉴和吸收.《德国税法通则》(Abgabenordnunp)自1919年公布实旌以来,几经修改,已经形成了体系完整、结构严谨的税收基本大法,对我国税法通则的制定有着重要的借鉴意义.为此,特对《德国税法通则》的结构和主要内容加以评介,以为我国《税收基本法(税法通则)》制定之借鉴.