The Imperfect Union: Constitutional Structures of German Unification
()
About this ebook
In the mid-summer of 1989 the German Democratic Republic-- known as the GDR or East Germany--was an autocratic state led by an entrenched Communist Party. A loyal member of the Warsaw Pact, it was a counterpart of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), which it confronted with a mixture of hostility and grudging accommodation across the divide created by the Cold War. Over the following year and a half, dramatic changes occurred in the political system of East Germany and culminated in the GDR's "accession" to the Federal Republic itself. Yet the end of Germany's division evoked its own new and very bitter constitutional problems. The Imperfect Union discusses these issues and shows that they are at the core of a great event of political, economic, and social history.
Part I analyzes the constitutional history of eastern Germany from 1945 through the constitutional changes of 1989-1990 and beyond to the constitutions of the re-created east German states. Part II analyzes the Unification Treaty and the numerous problems arising from it: the fate of expropriated property on unification; the unification of the disparate eastern and western abortion regimes; the transformation of East German institutions, such as the civil service, the universities, and the judiciary; prosecution of former GDR leaders and officials; the "rehabilitation" and compensation of GDR victims; and the issues raised by the fateful legacy of the files of the East German secret police. Part III examines the external aspects of unification.
Peter E. Quint
Peter E. Quint is Jacob A. France Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Maryland School of Law.
Related to The Imperfect Union
Related ebooks
Dissolution: The Crisis of Communism and the End of East Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Selling the Economic Miracle: Economic Reconstruction and Politics in West Germany, 1949-1957 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGermany Divided: From the Wall to Reunification Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRecasting Bourgeois Europe: Stabilization in France, Germany, and Italy in the Decade after World War I Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic: Germany at the Twentieth Anniversary of Unification Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlues Music and Gospel Proclamation: The Extraordinary Life of a Courageous East German Pastor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGerman politics today: Second edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBetween Reform and Revolution: German Socialism and Communism from 1840 to 1990 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Structuring the State: The Formation of Italy and Germany and the Puzzle of Federalism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWild Socialism: Workers Councils in Revolutionary Berlin, 1918-21 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Enigma of 1989: The USSR and the Liberation of Eastern Europe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe New German Constitution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDivided Dynamism: The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRisen from Ruins: The Cultural Politics of Rebuilding East Berlin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGermany without Bismarck: The Crisis of Government in the Second Reich, 1890 - 1900 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rationalization Movement in German Industry: A Study in the Evolution of Economic Planning Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSatellites and Commissars: Strategy and Conflict in the Politics of Soviet-Bloc Trade Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGovernment in Sweden: The Executive at Work Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGerman Liberalism and the Dissolution of the Weimar Party System, 1918-1933 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Craftsmen to Capitalists: German Artisans from the Third Reich to the Federal Republic, 1939-1953 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnglo–German relations during the Labour governments 1964–70: NATO strategy, détente and European integration Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRed October: The Revolution that Changed the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRegulating the Social: The Welfare State and Local Politics in Imperial Germany Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrance and the German Question, 1945–1990 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Politics of Economic Decline in East Germany, 1945-1989 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spotlight on Germany Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Communist Manifesto: with full original text by Karl Marx Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Restoration, Revolution, Reaction: Economics and Politics in Germany, 1815-1871 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The German Economy: Beyond the Social Market Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fateful Alliance: German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933: The <I>Machtergreifung</I> in a New Light Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
European History For You
Mein Kampf: English Translation of Mein Kamphf - Mein Kampt - Mein Kamphf Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dry: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mein Kampf: The Original, Accurate, and Complete English Translation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGalileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of English Magic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of the Trapp Family Singers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Mythology: A Concise Guide to the Gods, Sagas and Beliefs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Austen: The Complete Novels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Slave Trade: The White European Slaves of Islam Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Greek Mythology: Captivating Stories of the Ancient Olympians and Titans: Heroes and Gods, Ancient Myths Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Imperfect Union
0 ratings0 reviews