Suchergebnisse

Verweigerung gegenüber der Wirklichkeit und der Vergangenheit sind nach Ansicht des Verfassers ein wichtiges Merkmal der deutschen Gesellschaft seit 1945. In diese historische Kontinuität gehören für ihn auch die "Anmaßung Kanzler Schröders, in seiner Auseinandersetzung mit der US-Regierung Moral gegen Machtpolitik zu verteidigen," sowie der "rückständige Stolz" junger Deutscher auf Antikriegsdemonstrationen. Solche "unzeitgemäßen, wirren Proteste" sind für den Verfasser Ausdruck eines in der Vergangenheit verhafteten Bewusstseins. Tatsächlich gehe es heute um den Wiederaufbau des Westens als politischer Einheit, nicht um "eingeredete kulturelle Differenzen" in den transatlantischen Beziehungen. (ICE)

This article is an exploration of anti-Americanism, particularly the case of German anti-Americanism. It is argued that the anti-Americanism of today is an ambivalent one, and therefore different than anti-Americanism of earlier decades, and that anti-American sentiments in Germany can only be understood against the backdrop of two events that mark the end of the twentieth century: the collapse of the Berlin wall on November 9, 1989, and the terrorist attacks against the US on September 11, 2001. The anti-Americanism of earlier eras is outlined, and its historical development traced, including a discussion of the outpouring of sympathy following 9/11, and the deterioration of that sympathy in the months that followed. It is argued that contemporary forms of anti-Americanism are not identical with older forms; that, though there are some continuities, they receive their energy from very different sources than the resentment towards the US that was prevalent in the Germany almost one hundred years ago. T. K. Brown

Recent debates about the future of the European Union have focusedin large part on institutional reforms, the deficit of democratic legitimacy,and the problem of economic and agrarian policies. As importantas these issues may be, the most crucial question at the momentis not whether Europe will prevail as a union of nations or as a thoroughlyintegrated federal structure. What is of much greater concernis the fact that political structures and their corresponding politicaldiscourses have lagged far behind the social changes occurring inEuropean societies. The pivotal transformation of 1989 has not beengrasped intellectually or politically, even though its results areincreasingly visible in both the east and west.