Columbia International Affairs Online

CIAO DATE: 10/07

German Politics and Society

Vol. 24, No. 3, Issue 80 (Autumn 2006)

Articles

• How the Federal Republic Became an Immigration Country: Norms, Politics and the Failure of West Germany’s Guest Worker System

  Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos, Political Science, University of Toronto, Canada; Karen Schönwälder, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Germany

  This article explores the process by which temporary guest workers recruited to work in West Germany between 1955 and 1973 became de facto immigrants, thus transforming the Federal Republic of Germany into an immigration country. We argue that West Germany did not practice a true guest worker policy during this period because policymakers never implemented a mechanism for ensuring the consistent rotation of foreign workers. Drawing on a range of primary sources, the paper demonstrates that compulsory rotation could not be reconciled with West Germany’s postwar identity as a liberal democracy, supportive of human rights and the rule of law.

• Shock and Change in the German Venture Capital Market, 1995-2005

  Mark Huberty, Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University

  The development of the high-technology startup sector in Germany is critical for the adjustment of the German economy to growing international competition in traditional industrial sectors. The article explores whether changes to the German venture capital financing sector in the period 1995-2005 indicate an improved development path for high-technology startup firms. Based on the volumes and structure of venture capital investments during this period, I conclude that the venture capital sector has undergone substantial change in favor of financing and supporting high-technology startup firms. However, small firm behavior suggests that even with a changed venture capital sector, the overall regulatory structure of the German economy will result in lower rates of firm success than otherwise would be expected from a resurgent venture capital market. The policy implication is that, without additional regulatory reform favoring small, high-technology enterprises, the transformation of German industry will continue to be constrained.

• From the Outside In: Angela Merkel as Opposition Leader, 2000-2005

  Clay Clemens, Government, College of William and Mary

  As chair of the CDU in 2000, and of its joint Bundestag caucus with the CSU in 2002, Angela Merkel was the first woman and first easterner to head a major German party; she had risen as a protege of Helmut Kohl, but breaking with him over his financial improprieties vaulted her into power. These features of her biography made her leadership unconventional. So too did her style, characterized by interpersonal reserve and lack of charisma. Merkel’s views on cultural issues and economic policy–in particular, reform of the welfare state–were more liberal than those of her Union’s mainstream. Finally, her resources within the CDU/CSU were limited to a loose network of younger outsiders, who helped sustain her against rivals at the Land level. While Merkel survived a poor CDU/CSU election in 2005 to become chancellor, her time as opposition leader suggested that she would struggle in that role too, yet also served as a caution against underrating her.

• Out of the Closet? German Patriotism and Soccer Mania

  Ingeborg Majer O’Sickey, German, Comparative Literature and Women’s Studies, State University of New York, Binghamton

  As host of the 2006 soccer World Cup in June and July 2006, Germany was suddenly full of different Germans, waving millions of black-red-gold mini flags and wearing their (and others’) national colors with abandon. Was this show of nationalism a new kind of trans/national patriotism? Most certainly, the national enthusiasm exhibited in Germany had nothing whatsoever to do with past demonstrations of patriotism. With the focus on the country as host to world soccer aficionados, the world also learned of a multicultural Germany that has existed for the last fifty years or so. It learned that it is not always successful with its social and economic problems, and that the desire for national unity is sometimes difficult to fulfill. Quite correctly, the national media described Germany as joyous, generous, and open-minded hosts. In the foreign press, too, the old stereotypes were broken down.