German Politics and Society

Only a decade ago, slow growth and high unemployment plagued Germany, but the "sick man of Europe" has now moved to outperform the Eurozone average growth since the second quarter of 2010. This confirms Germany's recovery and its status as the growth engine of the continent. This surely is a success story. While Germany (also Austria and the Netherlands) is prospering, the peripheral countries in the Eurozone are confronted with a severe sovereign debt crisis. Starting in Greece, it soon spread to countries such as Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. In the course of the debate, Germany was blamed for the imbalances in Europe. In short, German export performance and the sustained pressure for moderate wage increases have provided German exporters with the competitive advantage to dominate trade and capital flows within the Eurozone. Thus, Germany is seen as the main beneficiary of the EURO. This argument, however, is vehemently disputed within Germany. Many economists and political leaders reject this argument and point to the flagrant lack of fiscal discipline in many of the peripheral countries. Some prominent economists, such as Hans-Werner Sinn, even disputes that Germany was the main beneficiary of the Eurozone. The paper analyzes the two sides of the controversy, and asks whether we are witnessing a more inwardlooking and Euroskeptic Germany. These issues will be analyzed by first focusing on the role of Germany in resolving the sovereign debt crisis in Greece, and the European Union negotiations for a permanent rescue mechanism. We conclude by discussing some possible explanations for Germany's more assertive and more Euroskeptic position during these negotiations.

In what way does national history shape the interpretation of international events in that country's media? Germany has always had a particularly sensitive and complex relationship with Israel. The Holocaust left such a scar on German identity that the country cannot consider Israel without confronting its own history. In Israel, Germany sees a “reflection“ of its own historical and symbolic space. In this article, I draw together a close reading of major German newspapers with more interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives in order to illuminate the mechanism of what I call “mirror reading,“ and especially to reveal its workings during what I consider a key shift in the discourse on German identity. The German print media, which I treat as the activating agent in German narration of national identity, plays a central role in this reflection by projecting national symbols onto Israel. In particular, I identify the initial reception of the Israeli wall (2003-2004) as a turning point in the debate on German self-understanding after the Holocaust. I establish that there are two extremes in a continuum of how German national history can frame the Israeli wall, one making Germany an active agent and the other a passive one. Employing national symbols in the media distorts the domestic perception of foreign events. My study casts a first light on this little understood—but nonetheless crucial—phenomenon.

Henry Farrell, The Political Economy of Trust: Institutions, Interests and Interfirm Cooperation in Italy and Germany (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Jeremy Leaman, The Political Economy of Germany under Chancellors Kohl and Schroeder: Decline of the German Model? (New York: Berghahn, 2009)

Wolfgang Streeck, Re-Forming Capitalism: Institutional Change in the German Political Economy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009)

Sarah Elise Wiliarty, The CDU and the Politics of Gender in Germany: Bringing Women to the Party

Reviewed by Louise K. Davidson-Schmich

Silja Häusermann, The Politics of Welfare State Reform in Continental Europe: Modernization in Hard Times

Reviewed by Aaron P. Boesenecker

Martin Klimke, The Other Alliance: Student Protest in West Germany and the United States in the Global Sixties

Reviewed by Chris Lore

Katja M.Guenther, Making their Place: Feminism after Socialism in Eastern Germany

Reviewed by Ingrid Miethe

Brian M. Puaca, Learning Democracy: Education Reform in West Germany, 1945-1965

Reviewed by Miriam Intrator

Hans Kundnani, Utopia or Auschwitz—Germany’s 1968 Generation and the Holocaust

Reviewed by Joyce Marie Mushaben

Ruth H. Sanders, German: Biography of a Language

Reviewed by Kurt R. Jankowsky

Andrew Wright Hurley, The Return of Jazz: Joachim-Ernst Berendt and West German Cultural Exchange

Reviewed by Jonathan Wipplinger

Theo Sarrazin, Deutschland schafft sich ab: Wie wir unser Land aufs Spiel setzen

Reviewed by Randall Hansen