This open access book examines how different economic systems impacted the development of East Germany and Poland. Through comparing these countries while they were centrally planned socialist economies with the periods when they transitioned to capitalism, the inability of socialist economies to modernize effectively and produce sustained economic growth is highlighted. Particular attention is given the role of technological progress in economic growth, peculiar institutions, the creation and transfer of knowledge, and post-socialist transformations. The book presents a detailed analysis of the barriers to modernization and growth implied by Soviet-type state socialism and the differences and similarities between the transition of East Germany and Poland to capitalist market economies. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in comparative systems and the political economy.
1. Introduction -- 2. From East to West: Modernization efforts in the northern and western regions of Poland (1944-1989) -- 3. The importance of technical progress for economic growth in the GDR -- 4. Inefficiency and intransparency in East German foreign trade -- 5. Historical Legacies of Regional Innovation Activity -- 6. Catching-up modernization: Synthetic fibre in the GDR and Poland -- 7. The re-allocation of entrepreneurial talent over the course of radical institutional change – an institutional perspective -- 8. When backwardness became an advantage: Stays abroad as birth assist in Polish transformation -- 9. Transfer of knowledge from the outside or self-learning? Key success criteria for setting-up enterprises in East Germany and Poland after 1989 -- 10. GDR's researchers catching up on their inclusion in international scientific communities -- 11. After 1989: Socialist elites and post-socialist transformations.
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In light of ongoing debates about racially motivated police violence, this paper examines two separate but interrelated phenomena: instances of police discrimination and mistrust in police and the judicial system among ethnic minorities in Germany. Analyses are carried out based on waves 1, 3, and 5 of the CILS4EU-DE data collected among 14 to 20 year-old respondents in Germany. The focus of the paper lies on young men from the Middle East, as well as Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, who - as our study demonstrates - tend to disproportionally more often report discrimination experiences and particularly low levels of trust in police and courts compared to other ethnic minorities and the majority populations in Germany, and partially also in comparison to their female counterparts. We also show that more frequent experiences of police discrimination are associated with greater distrust of the police and partially also with courts among young men from the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa. Female adolescents from similar backgrounds are also more distrustful of the police, but this is not explained by their own experiences of police discrimination. - Supplementary Material: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1231774/full#SM1
"This volume provides a state-of-the-art analysis on the fourth wave of far-right politics in Germany by leading scholars in the field. Innovatively, the book focuses not only on the role of the electoral breakthrough of AfD, the Federal Republic's first-ever nationally established far-right party, but also on the many crucial instances of non-party activism, such as the 'New Right' intellectual circles, PEGIDA street protest, and political violence. For a long time, Germany was regarded as an exceptional case because of the lack of an established far-right party on the national level. Times have changed - but Germany still remains unique. The book highlights four features that continue to make the case exceptional within western Europe: (I) The strong diversity of vibrant far-right political players in Germany and their many interconnections, (II) the electoral success of AfD, i.e. the delayed electoral breakthrough of a far-right party on the national level, (III) the importance of 'militant democracy', specifically how established players have responded to AfD, and (IV) the relevance of the east-west divide for understanding far-right politics in Germany. Contributions on these topics highlight the broader theoretical relevance of the analysis of the German far-right, connecting to many research questions that have occupied scholars also in other contexts. The book is essential reading for all those with an interest in the far right, German and European politics, as well as in the interconnections between political parties, social movements, and subcultural milieus"--
This book reveals how violent pasts were constructed by ancient Mediterranean societies, the ideologies they served, and the socio-political processes and institutions they facilitated. Combining case studies from Anatolia, Egypt, Greece, Israel/Judah, and Rome, it moves beyond essentialist dichotomies such as "victors" and "vanquished" to offer a new paradigm for studying representations of past violence across diverse media, from funerary texts to literary works, chronicles, monumental reliefs, and other material artefacts such as ruins. It thus paves the way for a new comparative approach to the study of collective violence in the ancient world
"This volume provides a state-of-the-art analysis on the fourth wave of far-right politics in Germany by leading scholars in the field. Innovatively, the book focuses not only on the role of the electoral breakthrough of AfD, the Federal Republic's first-ever nationally established far-right party, but also on the many crucial instances of non-party activism, such as the 'New Right' intellectual circles, PEGIDA street protest, and political violence. For a long time, Germany was regarded as an exceptional case because of the lack of an established far-right party on the national level. Times have changed - but Germany still remains unique. The book highlights four features that continue to make the case exceptional within western Europe: (I) The strong diversity of vibrant far-right political players in Germany and their many interconnections, (II) the electoral success of AfD, i.e. the delayed electoral breakthrough of a far-right party on the national level, (III) the importance of 'militant democracy', specifically how established players have responded to AfD, and (IV) the relevance of the east-west divide for understanding far-right politics in Germany. Contributions on these topics highlight the broader theoretical relevance of the analysis of the German far-right, connecting to many research questions that have occupied scholars also in other contexts. The book is essential reading for all those with an interest in the far right, German and European politics, as well as in the interconnections between political parties, social movements, and subcultural milieus"--
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With no ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in sight and Houthi forces in Yemen still firing missiles and drones at commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the EU's efforts at addressing conflict in Gaza and its broader regional ramifications keep flailing.After weeks of discussions, the EU officially launched its naval operation in the Red Sea on February 19 to protect international commercial shipping from Houthi attacks. The Houthis claim they wantto force a ceasefire in Gaza. Yet, while the ceasefire remains elusive, the attacks impose real costs on EU members: the EU commissioner for economy Paolo Gentiloni recently estimated that the rerouting of shipping from the Red Sea has increased delivery times for shipments between Asia and the EU by 10 to 15 days and the consequent costs by around 400%. Around 40% of the EU's total trade with the Middle East and Asia passes through the Red Sea.Protecting that shipping route thus is an important collective economic and security interest for the EU. Yet only four countries — France, Germany, Italy and Belgium — out of the 27 member states have agreed to provide warships for the new operation. Spain, which refrained from using its veto power to block the initiative, nonetheless declined to participate, having expressed concerns from the outset that any armed operation would reduce pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza. A bigger question is how effective this new EU operation will be in countering the Houthi threat given its purely defensive mandate to provide "situational awareness, accompany vessels and protect them against possible attacks at sea." Accordingly, the participating EU warships will be authorized to fire on Houthi targets only if they themselves or commercial vessels they are to protect are attacked. That rules out pre-emptive action against Houthi missile batteries or related targets.The defensive nature of the operation, however, may not be enough to convince the Houthis to refrain from attacking the European ships. In fact, Houthi leaders warned Italy, one of the new operation's chief promoters, that it will become "a target if it participates in attacks on the Houthis." If this threat comes to fruition, will the EU authorize offensive action against the Houthis, potentially drawing itself into a wider conflict? Will it rely on U.S. hard power for protection given that Washington is already engaged against the Houthis through "Operation Prosperity Guardian," in which a few EU nations – Denmark, Netherlands and Greece, as well as non-EU NATO members Britain and Norway -- are also participating? Would such developments not lead to a de facto merging of the U.S. and EU-led operations under Washington's lead — an outcome Europeans sought to avoid and which is the very reason why they launched their own mission in the first place? That these are not abstract questions is underscored by the failure, so far, of scores of U.S.- and UK-led strikes to degrade the Houthis' capabilities to the point where they would no longer pose a significant threat. Indeed, just as the EU announced its mission, the Houthis hit a British cargo ship which was at risk of sinking in the Gulf of Aden in what the Yemeni rebels claimed was their biggest attack yet. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations confirmed the incident, though it did not name the ship.Ironically, the safest way for the EU to avoid a direct military engagement with the Houthis, apart from testing their vow to stop attacking shipping if Israel ends its Gaza offensive, would be to reduce the number of targets in the Red Sea by encouraging ships to reroute. But such an outcome would, of course, vindicate the Houthi strategy to impose costs on the Western powers for the failure to stop the war in Gaza.And that brings us back to the mother of all conflicts in the Middle East: the continuing war in Gaza. The EU's approach so far has been to delink Gaza from the crisis in the Red Sea and the broader escalation in the region, including clashes between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Yet mounting tensions on that front show that its approach is not working. Some actors in the EU understand the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza as a necessary condition for regional de-escalation. The EU high representative on foreign policy Josep Borrell has been particularly vocal in his criticism of Israel. He suggested limiting arms sales to Tel Aviv on the grounds that such transfers violate EU guidelines that ban sales to countries accused of violations of the international humanitarian law. A Dutch appeals court recently ordered a halt to exports of F-35 jet parts to Israel on the same grounds. However, it is highly unlikely that the EU as a whole would adopt such a position, given that a number of countries – especially Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary – strongly support Israel.A stronger point of leverage could be to suspend fully or partially the association agreement between the EU and Israel. The EU is Israel's largest trading partner. In 2023, that agreement enabled 46.8 billion euros worth of bilateral trade. The prime ministers of Spain and Ireland, Pedro Sanchez and Leo Varadkar, respectively, asked the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to "urgently review" whether Israel is violating the human rights clauses included in that agreement. On February 19, the Spanish foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, insisted that the review should be completed in time for the next EU foreign ministers meeting on March 18.A full suspension of the agreement seems very unlikely even if the Commission finds Israel to have violated its human rights obligations because that would call for a unanimous decision by all member states. A partial suspension would require a qualified majority: 55% of member states (or 15 out of 27) representing 65% of the EU's total population. Notably, the only precedent for taking such an action came in 2011 when the EU suspended an association agreement with Syria in response to mass violations of human rights by the Bashar al-Assad regime. Meanwhile, the EU proved unable last week to issue even an official appeal to Israel not to follow through with its plans to carry out a ground invasion of Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, which has become the last refuge of nearly a million refugees from elsewhere in the enclave. In the face of a veto threat by Hungary, the other 26 member states instead issued a joint statement warning of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences should Israel move ahead with such an invasion. Notably, however, Hungary was isolated in its opposition to the appeal as Germany and other member states that have traditionally been reluctant to criticize Israel's conduct of war were on board. That is a step forward, but it's too little and it comes too late. As long as the EU keeps avoiding imposing real consequences on Israel for its conduct, it will keep losing influence in the Middle East.
This volume provides a state-of-the-art analysis on the fourth wave of far-right politics in Germany by leading scholars in the field. Innovatively, the book focuses not only on the role of the electoral breakthrough of AfD, the Federal Republic's first-ever nationally established far-right party, but also on the many crucial instances of non-party activism, such as the 'New Right' intellectual circles, PEGIDA street protest, and political violence. For a long time, Germany was regarded as an exceptional case because of the lack of an established far-right party on the national level. Times have changed - but Germany still remains unique. The book highlights four features that continue to make the case exceptional within Western Europe: (I) The strong diversity of vibrant far-right political players in Germany and their many interconnections, (II) the electoral success of AfD, i.e. the delayed electoral breakthrough of a far-right party on the national level, (III) the importance of 'militant democracy', specifically how established players have responded to AfD, and (IV) the relevance of the east-west divide for understanding far-right politics in Germany. Contributions on these topics highlight the broader theoretical relevance of the analysis of the German far-right, connecting to many research questions that have occupied scholars also in other contexts.
Introduction : non-linear historicizing as a method for studying health films -- The interwar obsession with family : eugenic pathos vs. humanistic skepticism -- Collective care vs. the "backward" family in Jak Vašíček přišel k nohám -- The institutionalized child as a precondition for the healthy nation in the films of Mladen Širola -- Central and Eastern European film in the search for deconstructing the institutionalized child -- The complex legacy of early animated health films in Eastern Europe -- Bacilínek (1922) on the stage of the national and global orders of health security -- Health films for children : between cultural reciprocity and popular scientism -- Health films as Bildungsroman for teaching men -- Masculinity in health films for the rural population -- Health films in the service of eugenic surveillance over women -- Sion ve světle as the first health film for the periphery : the birth of the canon -- Ikina sudbina and Dobro za zlo : extending the canon of health films to the Muslim periphery -- Films of the National Tuberculosis Association : rooting health films for the periphery in the racial hierarchies of the interwar United States.
"Not long after the Berlin Wall came down, three teenagers-a woman and two men-became friends in the East German town of Jena. It was a time of excitement, but also of economic crisis: some four million East Germans found themselves out of a job. At first, the three friends spent their nights lingering in train stations, smoking, drinking, and looking for trouble. Then, they began attending far-right rallies with people called themselves National Socialists: Nazis. Like the Hitler-led Nazis before them, these Neo-Nazis-also known as the National Socialist Underground-blamed minorities for their ills: working-class men and women from countries like Turkey, Vietnam, and Greece who had been brought over as "guest workers" to fill jobs in Germanys' factories and mines. And so, from 2000 to 2011, the NSU began to kill them and their descendants one by one. It became the most horrific string of white nationalist killings since the Holocaust. Inside family homes, police and intelligence agencies, and a Munich courtroom, which would witness Germany's most sensational trial since Nuremburg, Look Away follows Beate Zschäpe and her two accomplices-and sometimes lovers-as they radicalized within Germany's far-right scene, escaped into hiding, and carried out their anti-immigrant killing spree. It also follows Katharina König, an Antifa punk who, sickened and frightened by the rise of Neo-Nazis in her hometown in the 1990s, began secretly tracking the NSU-and would later expose them to the world. This is the definitive account of how a group of young Germans carried out a shocking spree of white supremacist violence, and how a nation and its government looked the other way until it was too late"--
The volume examines translation of key German texts into the modern Indian languages as well as translation from the vernacular languages of South Asia into German. Our key concerns are shifting historical contexts, concepts, and translation practices. Bringing an intellectual history dimension to translation studies, we explore the history of translation, translators, and sites of translation. The organization of the volume follows some key questions. Which texts were being translated? At what point or period in time did this happen? What were the motivations behind these translations? Topics covered range from thematic nodes or clusters, e.g., translations of Economics texts and ideas into Urdu, or the translation of Marx and Engels into Marathi, to personal endeavours, such as the first Hindi translation of Goethe's Faust done by Bholanath Sharma in 1939. Missionary as well as Marxist activist translation work from Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu is included too. On the other hand, German translations of Tagore and Gandhi setting in shortly after 1912 are also examined. Also discussed are political strategies of publication of translations from modern Indian languages guiding the output of publishing houses in the GDR after 1949. Further included are the translator's perspective and the contemporary translation and literary culture. What happens through the process of linguistic translation in the realm of cultural translation? What can a historical study of translation tell us about the history of Indo-German intellectual entanglements in the long twentieth century? The volume brings together multifaceted interdisciplinary research work from South Asian and German studies to answer some of these questions
Abstract People's Solidarity (Volkssolidarität) is an East German organization founded in Dresden, Saxony, in 1945. It is primarily known for its activities dedicated to the care of older people. However, in the early 1950s, members of People's Solidarity were also involved in international solidarity campaigns for Greece, North Korea, and Vietnam. This article examines this little-known chapter of the organization's past. It reveals an unusual willingness among older East Germans both to donate money for the benefit of people in distant countries, and to relate to their suffering regardless of the (post-war) hardships faced at home. As the example of People's Solidarity shows, internationalism to some extent informed the roots of everyday, voluntary care practices under socialist rule in East Germany.
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To rescue Vinh from its ruins, East Germany provided substantial material and technological assistance that was designed to transform it into Vietnam's model socialist city. However, this transformation was not without its challenges, as Vinh's rapid ascendance was followed by a quick fall into 'unplanned obsolescence', writes Xue Xuan, reviewing Building Socialism: The Afterlife of East … Continued
This study investigates the extent to which immigrants are faced with infertility and their utilization of reproductive health-care services in Germany. Previous research on migrant fertility centered mostly on the higher fertility rates of immigrants and their adaptation processes, but has largely neglected infertility. In contrast, research on infertility in the European low-fertility context focused almost exclusively on non-migrant populations. Our paper aims to serve as a bridge between these two crucial, yet distinct research areas of current demographic developments. We derived theoretical considerations from frameworks of fertility and health of migrants and minority groups. Using waves of German panel data (pairfam), we applied pooled panel regression analyses with self-perceived infertility and having used medical assisted reproduction services as dependent variables. Generally, the results indicate higher infertility and lower seeking of medical help among migrants as compared to non-migrants. However, there is substantial heterogeneity between different migrant groups: First-generation migrants show higher risks of infertility and lower usage of medical help to get pregnant. The study also indicates variation across (parents') regions of origin: women and men from Russia, Central Asia, and the Middle East (including Turkey) have an increased risk of self-perceived infertility or uncertainty about it than other migrant origin groups. Those from Russia and Central Asia have the lowest usage of medical help-seeking. These results suggest that selected immigrant groups - despite their on average rather higher number of children - face remarkable reproductive disadvantages, which deserves further attention in research on migrant fertility and assisted reproduction in general.