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Platform
....essays, opinions and commentaries on issues
we think will interest our readers.
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Last update: 15 April 2008 |
Understanding Policy Convergence in Britain and Germany
By Simon Green and Edward Turner
From 2003–2005 the Institute for German Studies at Birmingham University and the Anglo-German Foundation organised a series of seminars to explore the extent of policy convergence between Britain and Germany. These seminars resulted in a series of papers addressing both the notion of policy convergence and the evidence for it in specific policy areas over recent years, and these papers were first collected and published together in a special issue of the journal German Politics, published in March 2007. This collection marked a new and indispensable reference point for anyone interested in the idea of policy convergence.
To celebrate its publication in book form, we are pleased to reprint here the Introduction by Edward Turner and Simon Green. It will be of interest not only to specialists in the theory of policy convergence, but to anyone who wants to know whether Britain and Germany can learn anything from each other about how to tackle the problems common to all advanced industrial societies.
April 2008
For free download of the Introduction (131 KB) please click here
Publication details:
Policy Convergence in the UK and Germany: Beyond the Third Way?
Edited by Simon Green
Price: £70.00
ISBN: 978-0-415-44580-1
Binding: Hardback
Published by: Routledge
Publication Date: 24th December 2007
The book is dedicated to Professor William E. Paterson, Founding Director of the Institute for
German Studies.
The (tabloid) war is over: England, Germany and the World Cup 2006
By Luke Harding
In April 2005, the German writer Matthias Matussek summed up all that was wrong with Britain's image of Germany. The British, Matussek wrote, were only interested 'in Nazi Germany'. They had 'zero interest in the new Germany'. According to this 'primitive image' of Germany cultivated by the British, the Germans were either 'frozen-faced engineers' or 'Nazis'. The aim of Luke Harding's paper is to argue that the 2006 World Cup hosted by Germany this summer transformed the British media view of Germany. After decades in which Germany's portrayal by the British press was often linked with the Third Reich era, coverage of Germany during the tournament was surprisingly positive. Harding examines why. He argues that several factors contributed to the change - including a new, more comfortable patriotism among Germans, especially young Germans; the positive experience of the thousands of England fans who visited Germany in June and July; and a sense among tabloid executives that the old clichés about Germany had simply become boring.
December 2006
For free download of the article (79 KB) please click here
Germany 2006: Echoes of 1954?
This is a fascinating backward glance to ‘das Wunder von Bern’ -
the West German victory in 1954 which seemed to signal the re-birth of
post-war Germany as a nation (or rather as two nations) by Paul Legg, a
British journalist and historian of German football (an all-too-rare combination).
He asks whether the performance of the now-united Germany 50 years later
will reveal as much about the state of the nation and about its perception
by others (especially the British).
June 2006
For free download of the article (47 KB) please click here
Reducing unemployment through fundamental labour market
reform
Professor Dennis J. Snower, President of the Kiel Institute for the World
Economy since 2004, addresses the riddle of persistent unemployment in
free market economies, outlining first a set of popular explanations for
this phenomenon (and quickly showing why they are inadequate), then the
main explanatory theories put forward by academic economists. He goes on
to draw conclusions from the common ground shared by those theories regarding
the fundamentals of effective labour market policy, and proposes on that
basis two innovative measures which would address the underlying problems:
benefit transfer programmes and unemployment accounts. He concludes by
assessing the wider economic implications of introducing these measures.
This paper is based on a lecture given by Professor Snower at the Berlin
offices of the Anglo-German Foundation on 17 January 2006. For free
download (48 KB) please click here
The politics of economic reform in Germany:
Global, Rhineland or hybrid capitalism?
Kenneth Dyson and Stephen Padgett
One of the major European stories of the last 15 years has been the transformation
in perceptions of the German political economy. Until the early 1990s,
the German model commanded admiration and respect. There was considerable
scholarly and practical interest in analysing the German model of political
economy, variously labelled ‘ Rhineland’, ‘coordinated’, ‘managed’ and ‘stakeholder’ capitalism.
For at least the last two decades, however, the German model has faced
global, European and domestic challenges that have precipitated an increasingly
steep decline in economic performance.
At the same time, continued external success attests to the persistence
of Germany’s comparative institutional advantage in world markets,
and the decline of the domestic economy is attributed by many commentators
to the burden of unification and/or the fiscal constraints of the EU Stability
and Growth Pact.
How has German economic policy reacted to these diverging indicators
and interpretations? And is the new political economy which is emerging
a globalised economy, a continuation of the Rhineland model with minimal
adjustment, or a new hybrid? A full understanding of the reforms under
way and under discussion in Germany is essential to the future of the wider
European economy.
May 2005
For free download of complete report (84 KB) please click here
Is it easier to be a Turk in Berlin or a Pakistani in Bradford?
Roger Boyes and Dorte Huneke
Journalists Roger Boyes, Germany Correspondent of the London
Times and Dorte Huneke, freelance journalist in
Berlin, explored the ethnic communities in Bradford and Berlin.
Their snapshots of the Pakistani Community in Bradford and the
Turkish Community in Berlin now form part of a new comparative
study.
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Colourful profiles of migrants shed light on the history and the new options
opening up for ethnic minorities in both Britain and Germany. The report
was timely: launched ahead of the European elections, it touched on some
of Europe's most sensitive issues – immigration, citizenship and
ethnic identity (see report launch photos).
June 2004
- Introduction (32 KB)
- Einleitung (32 KB)
- For free download of complete report (English version 214 KB)
please click here
- For free download of complete report (German version 237 KB)
please click here
The evolution of the German model:
How to judge reforms in Europe's largest economy
Anke Hassel and Hugh Williamson
Are far-reaching economic and structural reforms in Germany possible?
Despite the
adoption of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Agenda 2010 reform package in
December
2003, there is concern both within and outside Germany that the structural
rigidities and
checks and balances within the 'German model' make the country's political
economy essentially 'unreformable'. In contrast, the authors argue the case
for viewing the reform process through a more 'German' and less 'Anglo-American'
lens. This demonstrates that changes have been more radical than is commonly
thought – indicating that modernisation of the German model is indeed
possible.
January 2004 , published online only
The paper was mentioned by Donald J. Johnston, the Secretary-General
of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in his speech
at the OECD Forum Berlin:
International Perspectives
for Growth and Employment
Berlin, 24-25 March 2004
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