In spite of having been short-lived, "Weimar" has never lost its fascination. Until recently the Weimar Republic's place in German history was primarily defined by its catastrophic beginning and end - Germany's defeat in 1918 and the Nazi seizure of power in 1933; its history seen mainly in terms of politics and as an arena of flawed decisions and failed compromises. However, a flourishing of interdisciplinary scholarship on Weimar political culture is uncovering arenas of conflict and change that had not been studied closely before, such as gender, body politics, masculinity, citizenship, empire and borderlands, visual culture, popular culture and consumption. This collection offers new perspectives from leading scholars in the disciplines of history, art history, film studies, and German studies on the vibrant political culture of Germany in the 1920s. From the traumatic ruptures of defeat, revolution, and collapse of the Kaiser's state, the visionaries of Weimar went on to invent a republic, calling forth new citizens and cultural innovations that shaped the republic far beyond the realms of parliaments and political parties.

Pt. I.The Framework.Ch. 1.Introduction.Ch. 2.The Morphology of Election Misconduct: International Comparisons.Ch. 3.Open Secrets --pt. II.Fields of Force.Ch. 4.Black Magic I: The First Mobilization.Ch. 5.Black Magic II: Keeping the Faith.Ch. 6.Bread Lords I: Junkers --Ch. 7.Bread Lords II: Masters and Industrialists --pt. III.Degrees of Freedom.Ch. 8.Disabling Authority.Ch. 9.Going by the Rules.Ch. 10.Belonging.Ch. 11.Organizing.Ch. 12.Conclusions.

This book presents a new approach to comparative politico-linguistic discourse analysis. It takes a transdisciplinary stance and combines analytical tools from linguistic discourse analysis (keywords, metaphors, argumentation, genre) and political science (political culture, comparative politics, ideologies). It is comprehensive in its introduction of approaches from the German tradition of politico-linguistics. This tradition has not, thus far, been accessible to a non-German speaking readership and hence the volume adds insights into the mechanics of political discourse from a diverse set of viewpoints. The book analyses the modernisation discourses in social democratic parties in Britain and Germany between 1994 and 2003, a project that was named ‘Third Way’. It demonstrates how political language and political culture are related and how politicians will adapt a global ideology to local political circumstances in order to convince the electorate. At the same time, the book presents new insights into the German political culture and the version of Third Way discourses in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) under the leadership of Gerhard Schröder which have played a key role in shaping current political discourse in Germany. It concludes with a model for the study of political discourse which makes the work relevant to scholars in Social Sciences and beyond.

From German unification in 1871 through the early 1960s, confessional tensions between Catholics and Protestants were a source of deep division in German society. Engaging this period of historic strife, Germany and the Confessional Divide focuses on three traumatic episodes: the Kulturkampf waged against the Catholic Church in the 1870s, the collapse of the Hohenzollern monarchy and state-supported Protestantism after World War I, and the Nazi persecution of the churches. It argues that memories of these traumatic experiences regularly reignited confessional tensions. Only as German society became increasingly secular did these memories fade and tensions ease.

This book explores the East German attempt to create a perfect society by eliminating money and explains the reasons for its failure.