The Challenges Of The German Reunification Politics Essay

The Challenges Of The German Reunification Politics Essay This paper attempts to help the reader understand the current situation in Germany today by providing an overview of the reunification of East and West Germany, the process that led to the so-called Reunification of Germany (or Deutsche Wiedervereinigung in German) during the end of 1989 and 1990. The paper begins with the situation of Germany after II World War, heading on to the Einigungsvertrag and the integration of the GDR into Western Germany. The International Relations section is intended to show the reader the different theories addressing this historical event. German reunification is a term commonly used to refer to the political process in which the German Democratic Republic (in German Deutsche Demokratische Republik) and Berlin, reunited into a single city, joined the Federal Republic of Germany. That meant for East Germany the end of political repression, censorship, and the introduction of a new capitalist economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for a private profit; decisions regarding supply, demand, price, distribution, and investments are made by private actors in the free market; profit is distributed to owners who invest in businesses, and wages are paid to workers employed by businesses and companies, leaving behind a Soviet-based economic system controlled by leading members of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die Wende (The Turning Point). The end of the unification process is officially known as German unity (Deutsche Einheit), and is celebrated on 3 October. 2. History The II World had dramatic consequences for Germany; the death of over seven million German soldiers and civilians; large territorial losses (such as Pomerania, Silesia and East Prussia which were seized to Poland); the expulsion of about 15 million Germans from eastern areas of Germany and other countries (such as the Czech Republic, Romania and Poland); mass rape of German women; and the destruction of multiple major cities (like Frankfurt or Dresden). After the war, under a common occupation policy contrived mainly in conferences at Yalta and Potsdam in 1945, the Allied powers assumed shared sovereign authority over Germany. American, British, Soviet, and French forces occupied different areas, and national matters came before an Allied Control Council comprising the commanders of the four occupation armies. Berlin, lying deep in the Soviet zone in eastern Germany, was similarly divided and governed. Thus, the city of Berlin, surrounded by the Soviet Zone, was partitioned into four zones. The zones occupied by the Allies lay on the west side of the city, whilst those in the east were occupied by the Soviets. West Germany and West Berlin received massive injections from the American Marshall Plan, which attracted many workers from miserable economic conditions in the East. While this was meant to be a temporary move, the Cold War interceded and eventually the three western zones combined to form the Federal Republic of Germany (parliamentary republic member of the NATO with a social market economy) while the eastern zone formed the German Democratic Republic (estate politically and military controlled by the USSR member of the Warsaw Pact). Berlin, the capital was also divided. Eventually the two areas of Germany, East Germany and West Germany began to experience a deteriorating relationship and conflicts arose. The 12th of August, 1961 plans for the beginning of the Berlin Wall were instituted. Led by Erich Honecker, the plans were kept secret. A day latter, the Berlin Wall was built in order to stop East Germans from escaping to West Germany. With the pass of time it would became a symbol of the Cold War. Tensions between East and West Germany were somewhat reduced in the early 1970s by Chancellor Willy Brandts Ostpolitik, which included the de facto acceptance of Germanys territorial losses in World War II. During the 1980s, the post-War fabric gradually began to tear. The crisis in the Eastern bloc began in 1980, with the founding of an independent trade union, Solidarnosc, in Poland, followed by the imposition of martial law at the end of 1981. Three-and-a-half years later, in March 1985, Michael Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union. The insistence of Helmut Kohl (chancellor of the GFR) and the political changes undertaken by Gorbachevs government meant the beginning of friendlier relations between the two Germanys. The end of the two Germanys begun to change in summer 1989, when Hungary decided to dismantle the Iron Curtain and open its borders, causing an exodus of thousands of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary and Austria. This had devastating effects on the GDR, with mass demonstrations The East German authorities unexpectedly eased the border restrictions in November, allowing East German citizens to travel to the West. Originally intended as a pressure valve to retain East Germany as a state, the opening of the border actually led to an acceleration of the Wende Reform process in East Germany, which finally concluded with the Two Plus Four Treaty on 12th September 1990 under which the four occupying powers renounced their rights under the Instrument of Surrender, and Germany regained full sovereignty. This historical event finally permitted German reunification on 3rd October 1990, with the accession of the five re-established states of the former GDR. 3. International Relations Approach Which IRs theory describes better this historical event? The realist theory explains international relations as a self-help system in which states struggle to survive or improve their status by ballancing the military and economic power of the other actors. Many realists believe that bipolar orders are more stable and peaceful than multipolar systems in which the actors more frequently shift alliances. From this perspective the Cold War was the latest great power rivalry. Once the German dream to establish world hegemony was vanished after Word War II, the US-Soviet confrontation was inevitable, as they were the only two remaining economic and military powers. This had as a result the division of Germany in two distinct countries belonging to two different economic and political systems: the Federal German Republic (capitalist and member of NATO) and the German Democratic Republic (communist and part of the Warsaw Pact). According to Realist John Lewis Gaddis: after centuries of great power rivalries in Europe and two bloody world wars the Cold War finally established a long peace in Europe. The two superpower maintained stability and prevented war for more than forty years. The peace was a result of a heavily armed confrontation. Liberal theory argues that the Soviet threat to Europe was not military power but the brutality with which Stalin imposed communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Liberals also reject that the Cold War established a long peace in Europe. They believe that this peace was not true, as it was guarranted by the Iron Wall, which was a symbol of the depravation of people lacking of basic human rights. Liberalists state that peace should not be confused with lack of war. In reference to the German Reunification, some realists fear that the Unification of Germany might reestablish the German hegemony in Europe which might lead to a resurgence of German militarism. In contrast Liberals argue that the united Germany of the XXI century within the European Union will help to spread the liberal values of democracy and build a stronger Europe which will diminish the nationalist feelings of the European countries under a common prerogative of liberty, equality and fraternity. Personally I believe that the Liberal Theory is far more credible than the Realist one. Germanys reunification has been proved to be highly beneficial to Europe. Instead of becoming a military power in Europe, Unified Germany has helped to build a stronger and a more peaceful Europe. In fact Germanys drive towards a greater European integration has been the only way in which Germany could project again its political clout on the international stage without arousing fear and hostility. Moreover, the integration of East Germany within the European Union has helped as well, to open a path to other former members of the Warsaw Pact in Eastern Europe to join this economic and political union.

Comparison of the first chapters of Pride and Prejudice and Great Expectations Essay

In the first chapter of Great Expectations, Dickens uses first person narrative to present a retrospective account of the narrator’s formative experiences. The narrator has obviously matured and learnt much since his days as a young boy, and he recounts his innocent imagination with some humour and disdain: â€Å"My first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones.† Here Dickens uses authorial control to present a pitiful account of a lonely, orphaned boy; â€Å"and that Philip Pirrip, late of the parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried.† And the fact that he mentions his parents death in the second paragraph shows just how significantly this has affected the young boy’s life. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen also uses authorial control to immediately inform the reader of the central theme of the book, and establish a humorous, ironic tone. This is done through the famous first line: â€Å"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.† but unlike Dicken’s first person narration, Austen separates herself completely from the mind and viewpoint of the characters, using dialogue to show her contempt for the social expectation of marriage: â€Å"‘Oh! Single, my dear to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!'† Austen presents Mrs Bennet as a personification of the first sentence of the book, and uses humour and irony to satirise and mock her. Another comparison between the two first chapters is that Dickens is very descriptive in his opening paragraphs: â€Å"Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles at sea.† whereas Austen does not give any background information on the characters and where they live until the end. At the end of the chapter Austen describes Mr and Mrs Bennet: â€Å"Mr Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice.† and: â€Å"Mrs Bennet was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and certain temper.† This authorial comment tells the reader exactly how to interpret the conversation they have just read, and it also presents a contrast between the two books: as Dickens uses pathos to make the reader pity Pip, Austen makes no attempt to make her central characters likeable. Finally both authors use binary opposition to emphasize the attributes of the different characters. For example in Great Expectations, Dickens contrasts the young, innocent Pip against the old and experienced nature of the escaped convict. When Pip meets the old man he lets his fearful imagination take hold of him: â€Å"‘O! Don’t cut my throat sir,'† I plead in terror. ‘Pray don’t do it, sir.'† which shows just how little understanding of the world Pip has. In Pride and Prejudice Mr Bennet’s mildly sarcastic statements are lost on Mrs Bennet, who’s over enthusiasm makes her oblivious to Mr Bennet’s mocking tone: â€Å"Mr Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves.† The disparity between them is amusing, but it is also ironic, as the reader’s first view of marriage in a novel about finding marital happiness is one of a mismatc hed couple that cannot communicate.

Discuss the Images In Sympathy That Reveal The Pain Of Slavery Essay

When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, Alliteration used twice using the letters W and S. I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till its blood is red on the cruel bars The poet is using imagery and a rather painful one by describing the bars of the cage covered with the bird’s red blood which is describe the struggle the bird is going through to be free. For he must fly back to his perch and cling When he fain would be on the bough a-swing The poet describing why he must get out the bird must fly back to where he belongs to the tree branch where he will be happy and he will start swinging on the branch. And a pain still throbs in the old , old scars And they pulse again with a keener sting I know why he beats his wing! The poet tells us that it is not the first time that he beats his wings against the bars, Because there is pain pounds in his old scares. When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, When he beats his bars and he would be free The poet uses alliterations here with the letters w and b. He wants the reader to pay more attention to what the bird is going through and the fact that his wing his bruised when he beats the bars trying to be free. It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, But a plea, that upward to heaven he flings A metaphor is used to describe the imprisoned bird which is comparing him with a human being that prays and unlike every other bird he does not sing he prays from his heart and requests for freedom and this metaphor is used to show how strongly the bird feels about wanting and needing his freedom.

Fascinating Stories About the Greek God Cronos

The Greek deities Cronos and his wife, Rhea, ruled the world during mankinds Golden Age.   Cronos (also spelled Kronos or Kronus) was the youngest of the first-generation Titans. More significantly, he sired the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus. The first-generation Titans were children of Mother Earth and Father Sky. Earth was known as Gaia and Sky as Ouranos or Uranus. The Titans werent the only children of Gaia and Ouranos. There were also the 100-handers (the Hecatoncheires) and the Cyclops. Ouranos imprisoned these creatures, who were Cronos brothers, in the underworld, specifically in the place of torment known as Tartarus (Tartaros). Cronos Rises to Power Gaia was not happy that so many of her children had been locked up in Tartaros, so she asked the 12 Titans for a volunteer to help her out. Only Cronos was brave enough. Gaia gave him an adamantine sickle with which to castrate his father. Cronos obliged. Once castrated, Ouranos was no longer fit to rule, so the Titans awarded ruling power to Cronos, who then freed his siblings the Hecatoncheires and the Cyclops. But soon he re-imprisoned them. Cronos and Rhea The Titan brothers and sisters married one another. The two humanoid Titans, Rhea and Cronos, married, producing the gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus. Cronos was told that he would be deposed by his son, just as he had deposed his father. Cronos, determined to prevent this, used extreme preventive measures. He devoured the children to whom Rhea gave birth. When Zeus was about to be born, Rhea gave her husband a stone wrapped in swaddling to swallow instead. Rhea, clearly about to give birth, raced to Crete before her husband could tell she had deceived him. She raised Zeus there safely. As with most myths, there are variations. One has Gaia giving Cronos a horse to swallow in place of the sea and horse god Poseidon, so Poseidon, like Zeus, was able to grow up safely. Cronos Dethroned Somehow Cronos was induced to take an emetic (exactly how is debated), after which he vomited out the children he had swallowed. The regurgitated gods and goddesses got together with the gods who hadnt been swallowed—like Zeus—to fight the Titans. The battle between the gods and Titans was called the Titanomachy. It lasted a long time, with neither side having an advantage until Zeus re-freed his uncles, the Hecatoncheires and  the Cyclopes, from Tartarus. When Zeus and company won, he shackled and imprisoned the Titans in Tartarus. Zeus released Cronos from Tartarus to make him the ruler of the underworld area called the Islands of the Blest. Cronos and the Golden Age Before Zeus came to power, mankind had lived blissfully in the Golden Age under Cronos rule. There was no pain, death, disease, hunger, or any other evil. Mankind was happy and children were born autochthonously, meaning they were actually born out of the soil. When Zeus came to power, he put an end to mankinds happiness. Cronos Attributes Despite his being fooled by the stone in swaddling clothes, Cronos is regularly described as wily, like Odysseus. Cronos is associated with agriculture in Greek mythology and honored at a harvest festival. He is described as having a wide beard. Cronos and Saturn The Romans had an agricultural god named Saturn, who was in many ways the same as the Greek god Cronos. Saturn married Ops, who is associated with the Greek goddess (Titan) Rhea. Ops was the patroness of wealth. The festival known as the Saturnalia honors Saturn.