Germany in Europe:
Political Transformation
and Social Change
Germany has gone through major transformations since 1945, emerging from its aggressor role in WWII and from Nazism as an economically, politically, and psychologically devastated and divided nation. During the Wirtschaftswunder and the Cold War, many Germans focused on the trope of ‘never again’ – never again being involved in war, never again to starve, never again to give in to Nazism. Today and with the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine, some Germans reactivate collective memory tropes from this past, but we also see the rise of a new radical rightwing party. We will explore how these German legacies inform the political and social transformations leading from Bonn to Berlin and Brussels. Throughout this seminar, we will analyze campaigns, results, and fallout from three seminal state elections in Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony-Anhalt in the fall.
Taking the division of East and West Germany as a starting point, we will address the different economic and political trajectories of the two countries and analyze the fall of the wall, unification, and their repercussions almost three decades later. After focusing on the politics of unification, we will trace dynamics of change and adaptation in the new ‘Berlin Republic’, such as the renegotiation of East and West German identities, the push for welfare and labor market reform, the political cultures of gender and ethnicity, as well as immigration and integration. Finally, we will address the new identity of Germany in international relations. How can we explain Germany’s path from being a historically reluctant background player in the European Union to becoming its central actor in the Euro crisis and the security-driven Zeitenwende?