The German government's open-door Aussiedler policy, 1988-1992
The political reform process that gathered momentum in eastern and south-eastern
Europe during 1987 and 1988 was accompanied by a growing exodus of ethnic and
cultural Germans (Aussiedler) who sought resettlement in West Germany. The
Aussiedler were welcomed enthusiastically by Chancellor Kohl as fellow German
compatriots who would be a benefit to the economy. The opposition SPD voiced its
concerns over the government's motives for maintaining the open-door Aussiedler
immigration policy and over the likely integration difficulties. The government
sought to respond to public concerns in 1988 by reassessing its Aussiedler policy. It
decided firstly to continue the open-door Aussiedler policy (as a constitutional
right), secondly to implement an Aussiedler integration assistance programme and
thirdly to seek to persuade potential Aussiedler not to emigrate to West Germany.
The thesis adopts a multi-disciplinary approach to analysing the government's
open-door Aussiedler policy during the period 1988 to 1992, formulating the
political and public concerns over the Aussiedler policy into three main research
questions. These questions analyse: 1. Whether the government's declared motives for maintaining the open-door
Aussiedler policy were justified.
2. Whether the government's optimism over the ability of Aussiedler to
successfully integrate into the employment market was justified.
3. Whether the government's policy of seeking to persuade potential
Soviet Aussiedler to remain in their country, by negotiating on the
re-creation of an autonomous German Volga republic, was viable. The findings for these three main questions allow for an assessment of government
Aussiedler policy for the period 1988 - 1992. The thesis argues that there was
evidence during the period of study to support the argument that the Aussiedler
group was to a degree instrumentalised by the government to serve its own political,
economic and nationalistic purposes. Government confidence concerning Aussiedler
employment integration proved to be too optimistic, as Aussiedler had specific
causes of unemployment. Furthermore, the attempt to negotiate the re-creation of
an autonomous German republic in Russia was unsuccessful. The exodus has
continued.
Unified Germany: A normal state?
This paper asks to what extent unification has changed the nature of the German state. In its formal institutions post‐1990 Germany is a larger version of the Federal Republic established in 1949. It has inherited most of its leading characteristics in the form of a liberal, pluralist constitutionalism, a federal structure, a social market economy and the commitment to Western integration. Yet each of these characteristics is under challenge as a result of unification. Political consensus is weaker in a more heterogeneous society; distribution conflicts put a strain on social peace and the structures of federalism; and the commitment to Western integration suffers from wider doubts about the future of NATO and of European institutions. While the present frontiers of a German nation‐state seem to be generally accepted, old disputes about national identity have resurfaced. Nevertheless the factors making for stability and continuity remain strong, as the experience of managing a democratic market economy co...
Solidarity. Reflections on an Emerging Concept in Bioethics. Summary
1. References to solidarity are currently on the increase in public discourse. In the UK and beyond, during economic crises and in a political climate where many feel that mutual assistance has lost currency, calls for a new and forceful emphasis on the meaning of solidarity are increasingly heard. Such appeals to solidarity are inevitably linked to ideas about how societies function, and about how and where the boundary between individual, familial, communal and societal spheres of responsibilities should be drawn.