Introduction

This project is funded by a British Academy "Networks" grant.

It is designed to promote collaborative work between researchers working in the area of modern German history, politics and culture in institutions in the UK, the USA and Germany.

The specific focus of the project is the concept of "normalisation"in Germany post-1989, and particularly since the mid-1990s.

Planned are a number of conferences and workshops, exchanges and visits, and an edited volume.

The participants also welcome the input of other researchers active in this area. A mailbase has been set up for exchange of ideas and views (see side bar). 

Participants

UK

Dr Paul Cooke (University of Wales, Aberystwyth)

Dr Jonathan Grix (The Institute for German Studies, Birmingham)

Dr Kerry Longurst (The Institute for German Studies, Birmingham)

Dr Bill Niven (Nottingham Trent University)

Dr Karoline von Oppen (University of Bath)

Dr Stuart Taberner (University of Leeds)

USA

Dr Stephen Brockmann (Carnegie Mellon University)

Germany

Dr Sebastian Harnisch (Universität Trier)

Kathrin Schödel (Universität Erlangen)

Frank Adloff (University of Goettingen, Centre for European and North American Studies)

Scope

It is possible to trace at least two competing meanings of the term ‘normalisation’ within the debates on the social, political and cultural changes that Germany has undergone since unification in 1990. Until the mid-1990s, the term ‘normalisation’ was thus most often associated with conservatives desiring to draw a line under Germany’s Nazi past and reinstate German national identity. Critics, especially on the left, perceived ‘normalisation’ as a part of an attempt to halt Germany’s apparent transformation into a ‘post-national’ state and as part of an attempt to ‘relativise’ and ‘normalise’ the Nazi past. Since the mid-1990s, however, and especially since the election of the present Social-Democratic/Green Government in 1998, the term has become less controversial. Chancellor Schröder has described unified Germany as a ‘normal state’ which shares the values of other western countries. The Kosovo conflict, in which Germany participated in ‘aggressive’ military operations for the first time since 1945, was a major turning point. The Nazi past has been integrated into the SPD/Green concept of normalisation, rather than ‘relativised’ or sidelined, as something from which present-day Germany continues to learn and which, in fact, ensures the country’s determination to act as a civilian power in pursuit of the ‘best’ western values of human rights and respect for other cultures. 

Normalisation, therefore, has become part of the political landscape in Germany, and part of its social and cultural discourse. The debate has moved, therefore, from how Germany deals with its past to how the country views itself—and is viewed from outside—in the present and the future. How does and will Germany define itself in terms of domestic and foreign policy, social and political identities and discourses, and cultural self-representation?

This project begins from the fact of normalisation. It sets out to examine the emergence of new social, political and cultural realities in Germany from the mid-1990s. Its aim is to place the debate about German normalisation not solely within the context of the Nazi past, as has been the convention, but within the new reality of Germany as a sovereign power on the world stage. In particular, it aims to investigate the ways in which a ‘normal’ unified Germany has begun to respond to questions concerning the role of the national state in an increasingly interlocked world, the impact of globalisation on political and cultural sovereignity, and Americanisation both at home and world-wide. 

Workshop

Conference

A conference is planned for May 2005

Outcomes

1. Working groups have been set up to consider different aspects of the theme. See below for their constitution and areas of interest:

'External' factors influencing normalisation

'Domestic' factors

Theoretical issues

Publication

A publication is planned for 2006

Related Activities

Dr Sebastian Harnisch and colleagues at the Unniversity of Trier are responsible for the website: www.deutsche-aussenpolitik.de

Mailbase

A mailbase has been set up to promote discussion of issues relating to the discourse of normalisation in Germany since 1989

You can join this mailbase by clicking on JOIN MAILBASE

Bibliography

This space is intended as an ongoing, non-structured bibliography that may contain items of interest to participants and others. Please feel free to email Stuart Taberner with additions.

Anti-Semitism, 'secondary' anti-Semitism, Philosemitism