The text focuses first on the impact of the Marshall plan on the organization of political and economic life in post-war Europe and how the plan was perceived in European public opinion. It then examines its role in the construction of European union and in the division of Europe. Finally, the book analyzes the debate about the economic impact of the Marshall Plan in the post-war economic "miracle" in Western Europe. The authors of these chapters are well-known historians, economists, and political scientists, whose original chapters derive from their work on post-war Europe.

The contributors of this volume seek to answer such questions as: 'How did the Germans overcome 'Germanic Ideology', or did they?' 'Why is there no libertarianism in Germany?' 'What do German conservatives wish to conserve?'. Emphasizing shared patterns of thought, the contributors trace the contours of political thought in a divided nation with a difficult past, and ion the shadow of the culture and political values of the United States.

As the French Presidential elections clearly demonstrated in the Spring of 2002, the popularity of far right parties is gaining ever more strength. From the National Front in France to the British National Party, anti-immigration, anti-European Union platforms are winning more voters. The numbers alone are striking: the National Front in France received nearly eighteen percent of the nationwide vote in 2002 Presidential run-off between Chirac and Le Pen; the Swiss People's Party received 23 percent of the popular vote in a 1999 election; and Jorg Haider's Austrian Freedom Party moved from...

Defending Europe seeks to clarify the competing ambitions, the contrasting visions and the trans-Atlantic tensions related to the recent quest by Europe for autonomy in the sphere of security and defense. Scholars from both sides of the Atlantic explore the development of ESDI within NATO, the revival of the WEU and the launch of the EU's Common European Security and Defense Policy. Among the issues discussed are the Euro-American capabilities gap, concerns regarding decoupling, discrimination, and duplication, and the complications posed by NATO/EU enlargement. Two contrary conclusions...

This book examines contemporary attitudes towards ethnic minorities in Germany. These minorities include some of immigrant origin, such as Italians, Turks, and asylum seekers, and the principal non-immigrant minority, Jews. While the findings demonstrate that intense prejudice against minorities is not widespread among Germans, many of whom in fact can be considered immigrant- and minority-friendly, a crystallization of attitudes is also evident: that is, attitudes towards immigrants are strongly correlated with anti-Semitism and with other worldview dimensions, such as positioning in the...

Many thought that the 'German question', that had shaped European history so catastrophically in the last century, had been solved for good in 1990. And the last elections seemed to confirm that Germany was on the road to 'normalcy'. However, at the beginning of the new century, many see Germany as a problem case in Europe. This raises the question about the future of Germany and the performance of the incumbent government. The book addresses these issues by examining the policies and politics of the Red-Green government and by putting recent changes and developments in this country in a...

This book contends that far-right parties play pivotal roles in setting the tone of political debates, shaping the political party system, and structuring government policy. Increasingly, as national governments attempt to cope with new realities of greater global migration, strained welfare states, and threats of foreign terror, opportunities have opened for parties of the far right to position themselves strategically.

In election after election for the European parliament there has been a growing ability for voters to deal with Europe, by-passing categories that are still used to think about essentials political issues within individual countries. Europe at the Polls highlights this liberation of the 'European Question' from the old left-right conflicts that have marked political life within the 15 members of the European Union. Across national borders, this study of those elections shows that diverse trends are taking root in homes, towns, and in the workplace, and are reflected in the electoral geography...

This book looks at the role of multiculturalism in the complex construction of the European Union, acknowledging the tension of creating a new political space for identities that are simultaneously national, regional, linguistic, and religious, and yet strive to encompass a political and geographic whole.

The book explores the promotion of Europeanness, which aims to arouse feelings of belonging to the European Union. It demonstrates that the promotion of Europeanness at the EU level does not constitute an overarching identity policy that imposes a homogenous interpretation of European identity. Rather, it is a process of negotiation in which various entrepreneurs of Europeanness within and outside the EU institutions invent and communicate representations of Europe. Both the negotiation and the multilayered representations of Europe that it produces are investigated through three case...