Relations In Germany Research Articles

The Management of Inter-Ethnic Relations in Germany and the United States: The Experience of the Theoretical Comprehension

This article shows that inter-ethnic relations create consequences in strengthening the ethno-cultural heterogeneity of society, in ethnic enclavization, in the growth of inter-ethnic tension, demonstrated in various conflicts. The authors show that the apparent reason for refusal from the inter-ethnic relations management is the negation of inter-ethnic tension, more precisely— its transference into the discourse of cultural differences. Evaluating the ethnic conflict atmosphere in Russian society, as well as identifying ways to optimize the ethnic relations, requires no recognition of the Russian ethnic practices specialness. It is important to understand the comparability of Germany and the United States’ experience, aiming at identifying the boundaries of introduction of management models based on the constructivism positions in the Russian society. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s4p87

Holding the shop together: German industrial relations in the postwar era

This book examines the course of industrial relations in Germany since the war but, given the long-standing role of the state, necessarily reaches back a little beyond 1945. Its main title may soun...

Gesetzliche Einhegung der Tarifpluralität? – Zur Debatte um eine staatlich verordnete Tarifeinheit

Abstract Claus Schnabel discusses the reasoning and the consequences of the recent parliamentary draft bill, which intends to restore the traditional principle of one collective bargaining agreement per business in Germany that has been overturned by the Federal Labour Court. The author argues that the empirical evidence on the effects of allowing multiple bargaining agreements and of the recently emerged occupational unions on strikes, wages and transaction costs is weak and does not justify the encroachment on the freedom of association associated with this bill. Ronald Bachmann and Christoph M. Schmidt argue that since 2010, when the Federal Labour Court eased restrictions on multi-unionism, hardly any signs of adverse effects of this court ruling can be observed. Furthermore, the draft bill would have strong negative consequences for small, mainly occupation-based, unions in Germany. Therefore, the bill does not seem to be a good instrument for regulating labour relations in Germany. Martin Henssler welcomes the plans of the German Government to clarify the legal questions arising from a collision of collective labour agreements caused by a revised jurisdiction. Companies need clear guidelines on how to handle the demands of several trade unions. Reciprocally, the trade unions, too, need legal security shown, for example, by the high compensation claims against the Air Traffic Controllers’ Union (GDF) jeopardizing its existence. The legislator should no longer allow the collective labour system in the field of essential services to suffer from a growing discontent of the affected citizens being the main sufferers from the strikes.

Tarifpluralität fünf Jahre nach dem BAG-Urteil

Abstract This article examines the likely effects of a draft bill of the German government which aims at restraining multi-unionism in Germany. We argue that since 2010, when the Federal Labour Court eased restrictions on multi-unionism, hardly any signs of adverse effects of this court ruling can be observed. Furthermore, the draft bill would have strong negative consequences for small, mainly occupation-based, unions in Germany. Therefore, the bill does not seem to be a good instrument for regulating labour relations in Germany.

Трансатлантические отношения во внешней политике Германии

Relations between Germany, the US and NATO today are the core of transatlantic links. After the Cold War and the reunification of Germany, NATO has lost its former importance to Germany which was not a "frontline state" anymore. The EU acquired a greater importance for German politicians applying both for certain political independence and for establishing of a broad partnership with Russia and China. The task of the European Union Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) development has been regarded by Berlin as a necessary component of the NATO's transformation into a “balanced Euro-American alliance”, and the realization of this project as the most important prerequisite for a more independent foreign policy. Germany’s refusal to support the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 led to the first serious crisis in US Germany relations. At the same time, there was no radical break of the deeply rooted Atlanticism tradition in German policy. It was Angela Merkel as a new head of the German government (2005) who managed to smooth largely disagreements in relations with the United States. Atlanticism remains one of the fundamental foreign policy elements for any German government, mostly because Berlin’s hope for deepening of the European integration and transition to the EU CFSP seems unrealistic in the foreseeable future. However, there is still a fundamental basis of disagreements emerged in the transatlantic relationship (reduction of a military threat weakening Berlin’s dependence from Washington, and the growing influence of Germany in the European Union). According to the federal government's opinion, Germany's contribution to the NATO military component should not be in increasing, but in optimizing of military expenses. However, taking into account the incipient signs of the crisis overcoming in the EU, and still a tough situation around Ukraine, it seems that in the medium-term perspective one should expect further enhancing of Germany’s participation in NATO military activities and, therefore, a growth in its military expenses. In Berlin, there is a wide support for the idea of the European army. However, most experts agree that it can be implemented only when the EU develops the Common Foreign and Defense Policy to a certain extent. The US Germany espionage scandals following one after another since 2013 have seriously undermined the traditional German trust to the United States as a reliable partner. However, under the impact of the Ukrainian conflict, the value of military-political dimension of Germany’s transatlantic relations and its dependence on the US and NATO security guarantees increased. At the same time, Washington expects from Berlin as a recognized European leader a more active policy toward Russia and in respect of some other international issues. In the current international political situation, the desire to expand political influence in the world and achieve a greater autonomy claimed by German leaders seems to Berlin only possible in the context of transatlantic relations strengthening and solidarity within the NATO the only military-political organization of the West which is able to ensure the collective defense for its members against the external threats. However, it is important to take into consideration that not only the value of the United States and NATO for Germany, but also the role of Germany in the North Atlantic Alliance as a “representative of European interests” has increased. The role of Germany as a mediator in establishing the West–Russia relations remains equally important.

Новые аспекты дискурса о “реальполитик” Берлина

The article investigates approaches taken by major political parties and civil society in the FRG toward the Transatlantic partnership. It reveals the tendencies of the prospective promotion of Berlin’s cooperation with Washington; the article also gives a forecast of further interaction between the EU and the USA, indicates the direction of discourse regarding the future Russia–Germany relations model in the context of the Ukrainian crisis and in reference to the increased transatlantic solidarity. Disputes in German socio-political circles on the issue of the FRG’s policy toward the U.S. are emerging all the time, but they have to be considered within a concrete historical and political context. Being of primary significance for all German chancellors, the Trans-Atlantic factor has been shaping itself in a controversial way as to the nation’s public opinion. This has been confirmed by many opinion polls, including the survey on the signing of the EU–U.S. Agreement on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Chancellor A. Merkel is playing an important role: she is either ascribed full compliancy with Washington, or is being tentatively shown as a consistent government figure in advancing and upholding of Germany's and the EU's interests. A. Merkel has implemented her peace-seeking drive in undoing the Ukrainian tangle by setting up the “Normandy format” involving the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine while having cleared it through with the U.S. President B. Obama well in advance. Despite the increasing criticism of Washington’s policy among some part of Germans, for the majority of German voters, the USA remains a country of implementable hopes, the only power in the world possessing a high education level and the most advanced technologies. Americans, for their part, are confident of the important role that Berlin plays in world politics, particularly in what concerns the maintenance of unity within the EU. Berlin aims at further constructive interaction with the USA in the frame of NATO as well as within other Trans-Atlantic formats. Notwithstanding the steady tendency toward increasing of the Washington policy’s critical perception degree in German society, officially Berlin continues as Washington’s true ally, partner and friend. There is every reason to believe that after the 2017 Bundestag elections, the new (the former) Chancellor will have to face a modernized Trans-Atlantic partnership philosophy, with a paradigm also devised in the spirit of the bloc discipline and commitments to allies. The main concern for Berlin is not to lose its sovereign right of decision-making, including the one that deals with problems of European security and relations with Moscow. Regrettably, Germany is not putting forward any innovative ideas on aligning a new architecture of European security with Russia’s participation. Meanwhile, German scholars and experts are trying to work out a tentative algorithm of a gradual return to the West’s full-fledged dialogue with Russia, which, unfortunately, is qualified as an opponent by many politicians. Predictably, the Crimea issue will remain a long-lasting political irritant in relations between Russia and Germany. Although not every aspect of Berlin’s activation in its foreign policy finds support of the German public, and the outburst of anti-American feeling is obvious, experts believe that the government of the FRG is “merely taking stock of these phenomena and ignores them”. Evident is the gap between the government's line and the feeling of the German parties’ basis – the public. It is noteworthy that the FRG has not yet adopted the Law on Holding General Federal Referendums on key issues of the domestic and foreign policy. There is every indication to assume that the real causes of abandoning the nationwide referendums are the reluctance of the German ruling bureaucracy and even its apprehensions of the negative voting returns on sensitive problems, – such as basic documents and decisions of the EU, the export of German arms, relations with the U.S., etc. The harmony between Berlin’s "Realpolitik" and German public opinion is not yet discernible within the system of Trans-Atlantic axes.

Backing the Bundeswehr

Along with Germany’s suspension of the Wehrpflicht (mandatory service requirement) in 2011, the Bundeswehr has been reformed to accommodate an all-volunteer force. In the years that followed, studies were conducted to determine the state of civil–military relations in Germany via the opinions of military leadership regarding the reforms and via the opinions of civilians on their perspective of the military in general. This study provides additional data from the perspective of young soldiers ( n = 347) at the Universität der Bundeswehr München and the Helmut Schmidt Universität in Hamburg regarding the civil–military relationship in Germany as of early 2014. The results indicate that the majority of these young soldiers are satisfied with their decision to join the Bundeswehr, yet they feel unsupported and underappreciated by the society they serve.

The Homosexual Scare and the Masculinization of German Politics before World War I

It may seem strange today to study aspects of the political sphere—from foreign policy to diplomacy and the military—in the context of sexuality. But the Belle Epoque (1871–1914) was an era of prestige politics, also with respect to the politics of sexuality. This article reveals how the Eulenburg Scandal of 1906 to 1909 used sexual morality as a way to explain and interpret the tensions that pervaded Germany's domestic affairs and international relations. The reliance on sexual mores as an explanation for large-scale political events was the result of an ever-intensifying chain of national and international complications—complications that later undermined Germany's sense of national honor. The Eulenburg Scandal is remembered today mainly as the first major homosexual scandal of the twentieth century, but contemporaries experienced it in a wider sense: it became Germany's counterpart to the Dreyfus Affair in France—two examples of political, social, and cultural conflict that threatened the foundations of their respective countries.

Deregulation of Temporary Agency work and Effects of Industrial Relations in Germany

Deregulation of Temporary Agency work and Effects of Industrial Relations in Germany

Non-State Actors, Political Opportunity Structures and Foreign Relations: The Case of Germany's Federation of Expellees and the ‘Foundation Flight, Expulsion and Reconciliation’

This article examines the political process leading to the creation of the controversial ‘Foundation Flight, Expulsion and Reconciliation’ in Germany. The foundation aims to establish a permanent exhibition by 2016 showcasing the flight and expulsion of up to fifteen million Germans from the East following the Second World War. The foundation was the result of lobbying by the Federation of Expellees (BdV); it caused frictions in Germany's relations with its eastern neighbours and jeopardised Germany's reconciliation process with these states. The process reveals that the structure of Germany's polity, paired with astute alliance building and its members' rhetoric, aided the BdV's cause. Thus, non-state actors can utilise favourable domestic structures for the lack of material resources in order to maximise their lobbying ‘power’. This contributes to the growing literature on reconciliation in international relations which neglects domestic structures as a variable determining reconciliation processes in favour of more normative policy instruments.

Between ideology and pragmatism: the ČSSR, the GDR and West European companies in the 1970s and 1980s

The article deals with Czechoslovakia's and East Germany's relations with West European enterprises and private businessmen in the 1970s and 1980s, and explores more specifically their licensing agreements and credit policy. The author shows their importance for technological modernisation and the realisation of so-called consumer socialism in both countries. It focuses on the political and business elites of both countries, and devotes special attention to the question of the ideological versus technocratic approach of the politicians and company directors as well as their impact on economic planning.

Germany: The public sector in the financial and debt crisis

In this article I analyse the changing contours of public sector employment relations in Germany during and after the financial and debt crisis. In order to understand what is distinctive in German experience and what is similar with that elsewhere, I provide a comparative perspective of selected EU member states, especially Austria. First, I describe in some detail the impact of various austerity measures on public sector employees. Second, I analyse collective consequences and challenges for corporate actors and labour market institutions, especially unions and collective bargaining. Third, I offer a brief prognosis for future developments.

Comparer l’incomparable ? Le sens du travail en France, en Allemagne et en Grande-Bretagne dans l’entre-deux-guerres

The economics of conventions method means objectively questioning the pragmatics of acts done in given situations. It does so by attempting to reproduce the configurations of meaning that guided the actors, i.e. justifications and controversies as well as traces left in social objects. A comparison can therefore contribute to the histoire croisée (“entangled history”) approach a better understanding of the uniqueness of situations, and, especially in the case of Europe, of national specifics. We try to demonstrate this here by studying the meanings attached to labor relations in Germany, France and Great-Britain between the two world wars. Correlating various domains and sources suggests that those configurations of meaning are built, respectively, around freedom of contract, freedom of association and a servant's reliance on the master. That result was obtained by showing that the way labor relations are conceived creates a relationship between labor and the product that is particular to each country.

Germany's foreign policy of reconciliation: from enmity to amity

Chapter 1: The Narrowness and Breadth of Reconciliation in the International Arena Chapter 2: Responsibility and Realism: The Contours of German Foreign Policy as Context for External Reconciliation Chapter 3: Germany's Relations with France: From Enmity to Amity Chapter 4: Germany's Relations with Israel: From Abyss to Miracle Chapter 5: Germany's Relations with Poland: From Community of Disputes to Close Partnership Chapter 6: Germany's Relations with the Czech Republic: From Community of Conflict to Predictable Friendship Chapter 7: Comparison and Prescription Appendix: Comparative Timeline of Germany's Reconciliation with France, Israel, Poland, and Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic, 1945-2009 Selected Bibliography Interviews

Veränderungen in betrieblichen Beschäftigungsverhältnissen: Ergebnisse einer empirischen Untersuchung

Aufbauend auf der These einer zunehmenden Vermarktlichung von Beschäftigungsverhältnissen und des Endes der Organisationsgesellschaft von Davis (2009a, 2009b) untersuchen wir den Wandel der Industrienation Deutschland zur Dienstleistungs- und Wissensgesellschaft und fragen, ob mit diesem Wandel eine Auflösung des für den deutschen Arbeitsmarkt typischen Normalarbeitsverhältnisses einhergeht (Dombois, 1999). Dabei werden drei Elemente betrachtet, welche eine Entwicklung hin zu einer marktgesteuerten Beschäftigungsstrategie beeinflussen könnten: 1) sektorspezifische Prägungen der Beschäftigungsverhältnisse, 2) organisationsstrukturelle Einflüsse und 3) das System der industriellen Beziehungen in Deutschland. Die Ergebnisse unserer Untersuchung verdeutlichen, dass sich Veränderungen in den Beschäftigungsverhältnissen in Deutschland zeigen, dass diese im Produktionssektor jedoch nicht zu einem allgemeinen Wandel der Beschäftigungsmuster führen, sondern dass in diesem Beschäftigungssegment vielmehr vom Rand der Beschäftigung her eine Flexibilisierung der Beschäftigungsverhältnisse erfolgt, die die Beschäftigungsform der Kernbelegschaften der Betriebe des Produktionssektors bislang nicht verändert hat.

The erosion of corporatism? The rescaling of industrial relations in Germany

By the 1980s, some scholars had already claimed that corporatism, as an expression and institution of the bilateral negotiations between trade unions and employers’ associations, had come to an end. This perception is stronger nowadays than it was then. Quite often it is argued that, as a result of economic liberalisation and the paradigm shift from Keynesianism to Monetarism, industrial relations are under pressure, and that this is accompanied by a weakening of trade union power. In this article, the development of collective negotiations and the new contours of corporatism are analysed with respect to Germany. At the moment we are witnessing a decentralisation of formerly central negotiations and their differentiation in the direction of collective and/or concession bargaining at the level of the firm. At the same time, there is an important trend towards the up-scaling of industrial relations to the European Union level. The central argument of the article, therefore, is that a rescaling of industrial relations is taking place, which does not necessarily mean an end to corporatism but, rather, profoundly new qualities of corporatism. In order to develop the argument, changes in industrial and political organisation are examined.

In the Shadow of Traditional Industrial Relations in Germany

This paper makes a contribution to the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) literature. It explains how some firms can—on a sustainable basis—be subject to an institutional configuration different from th...

After the end of stability: recent trends in the public sector of Germany

This article examines changes in public sector employment relations in Germany, traditionally regarded as a very stable case and a country that has not been conducive to the new public management (NPM) agenda. In recent years, very significant changes in pay determination and interest representation have occurred. Public employers have changed their practice without, however, explicit reference to any NPM agenda. They have transformed civil servants' employment conditions by making use of their legally guaranteed, unilateral regulatory power of decision making, setting in train a process of fundamental transformation.

Industry and Finance in Germany since Unification

Since German unification there have been dramatic and highly visible changes in the German financial system and relations between banks and firms in Germany. The traditional Hausbank system has weakened, as securities markets have become more important for both borrowers and savers. The demands of financial investors on how German firms manage themselves have—for better or worse—become increasingly influential in this time. In this article, I advance the thesis that bank-industry relations in Germany became increasingly differentiated, with one set of firms moving into an institutional environment readily characterized as market-based finance. Meanwhile, most German firms remain in a bank-based environment that, while not quite the same as the Hausbank model that prevailed at the time of unification, is still easily recognized as such. These changes in the financial system have had numerous consequences for the German economy, including increased pressure on firms to make greater profits and increased pressure on labor to limit wage gains and make concessions in the interest of corporate competitiveness.

Individual Characteristics of Work Council Members – Empirical Evidence

The main body of research on work councils has been conducted on a collective institutional level, neglecting work council members at an individual level. In times of changing industrial relations, the importance of work councils in management decision making has risen steadily and thus further research of its members is required. This paper sheds light onto work councillors as individuals by investigating personality and attitudinal characteristics using data from a large representative German dataset. The findings are gender-specific and suggest that female work councillors are more extraverted and exhibit a stronger internal Locus of Control, while male work councillors are more conscientious as compared to their non-councillor counterparts. Risk attitudes and reciprocity do not show as valid predictors of work council membership. Implications of the results are discussed. Key words: work councils, Five Factor Model, risk aversion, locus of control, reciprocity (ProQuest: ... denotes formula omitted.) 1. Introduction The research on the topic of industrial relations has grown significantly over the last decades. Notably, a variety of research questions - mainly concerning the determinants and economic outcomes of the existence of work councils - has been posed regarding the institution of the work council.1 The main body of research has focused on work councils as collective organs, neglecting the people representing it at an individual level. Changing industrial relations in Germany have been characterized by decentralisation (Muller-Jentsch 1997). This has led to an increased demand for bargaining at the establishment level (Verbetrieblichung) and consequentially to a much stronger involvement of work councils in managerial decision processes (Nienhuser/Hossfeld 2007). The enhanced knowledge of the individual bargaining partners is crucial in understanding the functioning of work councils. The increasing heterogeneity of industrial relations is also apparent in the research on types of work councils (e.g. Kotthoff 1981, 1994; Nienhuser 2005). To date, our knowledge of the action strategies of various types of work councils is limited. One factor in learning about the action strategies of work councils may be the individual characteristics and personality of its members. For example, work councillors are exposed to conflicts of interests to a greater extent than other employees, which leads to emotional strain and stress.2 Therefore, one may expect that only those who feel capable of dealing with such high levels of stress would take on a position within the work council. Yet, engaging in a work council provides the opportunity to make use of the rights of codetermination and thereby have the chance to participate in managerial decision processes. Nevertheless, only a very small fraction of the workforce is in fact a member of a work council. The basis for such individual action strategies in becoming a work councillor can be seen in the individual set of preferences and personality structure that determines emotions, thoughts, and behaviour (Pervin et al. 2005). Only recently, Borghans et al. (2008) have emphasized the linkage of personality measures from psychology and economic preferences, such as time preferences and risk aversion, with economic outcomes in general. As work councils - characterized by the actions of their individual members - are considered to impact on the performance of the company they work for, this strongly encourages looking at the individual. The objective of the present paper is to shed light onto work councillors as individuals by investigating personality and attitudinal characteristics as determinants to work council membership. The following psychological and economic concepts are applied to differentiate among members and non-members of work councils: the Five Factor Model, risk aversion, hocus of Control, and reciprocity. The use of a large scale representative data set from Germany provides an opportunity to empirically analyse this paper's objective, which has, to the best knowledge of the author, not been made use of before. …