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With a focus on united Germany and the post-1989 German unification process, Phillips outlines the necessity and feasibility of a concept of post-national patriotism. Specifying the example of racist violence, Dr. Phillips argues that a substantial measure of Germany's social consensus can only be extended to heterogeneous Europe if there is a greater recognition of heterogeneous Germany, not only by Germans, but by non-Germans as well. He shows that the consensual structures of German-based transnational business may play a leading role in the development of a sense of post-national patriotism.
Phillips argues that state solutions to issues of immigration and integration are not in themselves adequate, and that these may be supplemented by private-sector institutions taking on responsibility. Business opposition to racist violence in unified Germany has neither succeeded substantially in eliminating racism in Germany, nor achieved a significant reduction in non-Germans' prejudices about Germans. However, he argues that an accentuation of German business practices of codetermination worldwide could go a long way to changing prejudices about Germans and prejudices in Germany, as well as serving the interests of German-based business. Greater processes of dialogue, also involving the private sector, could help correct problems of group definition and intercultural understanding, promoting shared civic identification instead of civic demarcation. This is an important analysis for scholars and researchers involved with the society and politics of Germany, international relations and business, and European integration.
List of contents
Introduction
A Concept of Post-National PatriotismThe Homogeneity/Heterogeneity Dilemma in Community
Germany and the Concept Post-National Patriotism
The Failed Attempt to Rebuild National Social Coherence in GermanyDoubt in Multipolar Germany: An Aside from the Sociopolitical Context
The Miracle of Freedom That Brought the Wall Down
The Insufficiency of the National Approach for Social Coherence
Privatization as the Wealth Generator in the East
The Differentiated Development of Unified Germany
The Resolution of Immigration and Ethnicity: The Opportunity of Post-National PatriotismImmigrants to Germany
The Crisis Caused by the Debate on Article 16
Repercussions of the Asylum Debate and the Change to Article 16
The Ritual Expression of Ethnic Germanness
Longer Term Implications for Immigration Brought by the Asylum Crisis
Business Reactions to Racism
Transconstitutional Parameters for Integration
The Ongoing Negotiation Process and Taylor's "Politics of Recognition"
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
About the author
DONALD G. PHILLIPS is a researcher and writer specializing in German issues. He has variously worked as a lecturer at the Humboldt University of Berlin, as a research analyst with a political consultancy firm in London, and at two European intergovernmental space organizations in Darmstadt, Germany.
