Though the German Democratic Republic (GDR) collapsed in 1990, after 41 years of existence, the socialist state lives on – in schoolbooks, museums, novels, films and in the memories of those who witnessed the "workers' and peasants' state." With GDR memory being a highly embattled discourse in Germany more generally, we ask how the GDR is constructed in German film. This means more specifically, what stories are being told and what interpretations suggested within the broader GDR memory discourse? To answer these questions, we offer a comparative three-level-analysis of the feature films Balloon (2018) and Sealed Lips (2019). Looking at the film-immanent, the structural and the actor-centered level, we find that East German directors, producers or actors can bring different albeit divergent perspectives on the GDR in film whose construction is currently dominated by West German elites.
Notice from the Public Affairs Officer, U.S. MIsSIOn, Berlill, of the visit to Rome of Walter de Hoog, H. Badekow, N. Kaufmann, and Bruce Herschensohn for the purpose of filming the coronation of the Pope for an American government production. He requests that every courtesy be extended to them. ; Scanned from original text or image using a Canon Expression 100000XL scanner. Optimized in Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro and saved in .pdf format.
This is a multiauthorial review essay of Daniel Ziblatt's Structuring the State: The Formation of Italy and Germany and the Puzzle of Federalism (Princeton: Princeton U Press, 2006) that includes a rebuttal by Ziblatt. Maurizio Cotta notes the persuasiveness & convincibility of the factors singled out by Ziblatt in support of the book's central thesis that the unification of Italy & Prussian Germany in the second half of the 19th century, although begun in both countries with similar regional institutions, ended with a centrist government in the former & a federalist regime in the latter. He questions, however, his attempt to project these factors in developing a more comprehensive theory of the emergence of major nation states in Western Europe, pointing out that the generalization that gives a satisfactory account for Germany & Italy becomes a fallacy when extended to Belgium or the Netherlands. Alfio Mastropaolo objects Ziblatt's implicit premise that federalism is superior to a centrist-unitarian governance & the implied conclusion that Italy would have fared better with a federalist government after its unification. He observes that neither Germany was spared from Nazism by federalism & nor Italy from Fascism by centralism. Mastropaolo points out that Ziblatt overlooks the importance of ideological factors, in particular the strong sentiments favoring a unitarian state in pre-1861 Italy. Gianfranco Poggi notes that the book fails to consider some important cultural & ideological theories of federalism that suggest an alternative explanation of the preference for federalism in Germany but not Italy. In his rebuttal, Ziblatt replies to the objections raised by each interviewer, defending the descriptive-explanatory efficacy of the historical-comparative approach adopted in the book & Charles Ragin's (1987) qualitative-comparative analysis applied in the extension of the generalization to other European states. He flatly rejects Mastropaolo's imputation that the book favors federalism as a superior form of government. Ziblatt also provides a rationale to justify the relevance of comparing the unification experience of Italy & Prussian Germany for contemporary political science. Z. Dubiel
Analizzando le carte tematiche della Germania emerge che la Repubblica Democratica Tedesca è tuttora esistente: al variare della tematica analizzata la rappresentazione cartografica rimane pressoché invariata ed è tuttora chiaramente delineabile il vecchio confine. Gli ambiti in cui la differenziazione tra le due realtà territoriali appare maggiormente evidente sono numerosi: l'occupazione, l'orientamento politico, la confessione religiosa, l´evoluzione demografica, gli ambienti urbani e i servizi per l'infanzia. Le politiche e gli investimenti adottati sembrano non essere riusciti a incidere sufficientemente mostrando come a trent'anni dalla Riunificazione tali differenze non siano più riconducibili solo al periodo socialista. ; By analysing German thematic maps, it emerges that the old German Democratic Republic is still alive. No matter which theme is analysed the final cartographic representation remains nearly the same as the old boundaries are still clearly outlined. The fields which show the dif¬ferences between the two territories are many: employment, political orientation, religion, demographic trends, urban areas and childcare. Policies and investments have not been successful in defining a new development, and after thirty years these differences are no longer to be attributed only to the socialist era.
- ; Electoral turnout figures reveal that in recent years young voters have shown a strong disaffection with politics, which could be explained by the increasing lack of communication between them and the political class. By examining some strategies adopted by German politicians to approach young people and by addressing the characteristics of young people's language, the paper will first focus on an interview with Angela Merkel by woman YouTuber Ischtar Isik. To ascertain whether the language used in the interview by this young influencer truly represents her usual way of speaking, a second document will be analysed, in which Ischtar, this time as interviewee, deals with general topics. Conclusions will be drawn based on the data resulting from the comparison between the two interviews. ; -
