Research on "the political" is currently drawing a high level of attention. This volume brings together contributions that address the issue from an historiographical comparative (Italian and German-language) perspective, ranging from Ancient Greece to the 20th century. The question how historical change can be described if one forgoes a reduction to the intrinsic principle of the political is highly controversial. Nor are the points of view presented here by any means homogeneous. One possibility worthy of discussion is to identify the political communication of different epochs in terms of...

English summary: The monograph takes a profound look behind the scenes of the Russian court in the 1720s and its revolving events in this period: including e.g. the foundation of the Russian Empire in 1721, the successions to the throne of 1725/1727 and the formation of an alliance between St. Petersburg and Vienna in 1726. The author pays special attention to the diplomats and their function as actors, representatives and mouthpieces of the Holy Roman Emperor at the foreign court. This approach reveals so far underestimated aspects of the early modern diplomacy and shows the contemporary...

English summary: The book describes the competition of social democratic, Christ democratic und socialist parties in West-Germany and Italy after World War II in European policy. In the context of the framework of the Cold War and the consolidation of the national political systems the author examines how political parties take position in confront of the first steps of the European integration, which strategies they followed and which ideas of Europe the politicians dealt with. The analysis incorporates related policy fields and semantic fields of Europe incorporating the international and...

English summary: Nowadays, creativity is on everyone's lips: It is regarded as an expression of free thinking, as an artistic, social, and even economic potential. What status, however, did creativity have in a dictatorship such as the former GDR? Based on the work of dancers, musicians and artists of different genres, this book examines the discourse on creativity in the GDR and its connection to the establishment of a performative canon of art that had become relevant since the 1960ies. Fine Kwiatkowski, A.R. Penck, Lutz Dammbeck, Gret Palucca and others: Although their improvisations and...