This study, the first of its kind in English, sets out to analyse literature as a form of social communication by considering developments in literary theory and practice in the German Democratic Republic in the Honecker era. Attention focuses on the changes in the discourses of literary theory and literary practice in a semi-public sphere controlled by an increasingly ossified political discourse. Key developments in the 1970s, hailed by GDR theorists as the point of departure for a new kind of literary communication in society, are carefully examined. The study then contrasts these idealised views of literature as social communication with practice and theory in the late 1970s and 1980s. In clear trends in practice (and, to a lesser extent, in theory) communication was perceived as being increasingly problematic and conflictual. The development from this sense of destabilisation to the rupturing in communication between literature and society, between literature and political authority and in literature itself became more salient in the 1980s as its forms and themes radically challenged the mounting stagnation of the discourse of political power. These conflicts are illustrated and discussed with the aid of detailed analyses of key literary texts and previously unpublished interviews with leading theorists.

The first full-scale analysis of the history of German reunification, with a particular emphasis on social policy, showing how the transfer of the West German social policy framework to the East intensified the crisis of the German welfare state.

2020 Catholic Press Association first place award, theology--theological and philosophical studies This book is unique in the literature about Vatican II. From the manifold issues debated at the council and formulated in its sixteen documents, Ormond Rush proposes that the salient features of “the vision of Vatican II” can be captured in twenty-four principles. He concludes by proposing that these principles can function as criteria for assessing the reception of the conciliar vision over the last five decades and into the future. There is no other book that attempts such a comprehensive synthesis of the council’s vision for renewal and reform of the Catholic Church.

The European Union is running at a fast pace in the area of economic growth. This book examines the inside details of Europe's expansion ranging from policy to exchange rates to employment and unemployment to public opinion.

In June 2006 the European Commission published its so-called 'Green Paper' under the title: 'Towards a future Maritime Policy for the Union. A European vision for the oceans and seas.' In February 2006, looking ahead to this emerging vision, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Peter Ehlers and Prof. Dr. Rainer Lagoni organised a seminar on 'Law of the Sea and Maritime Policy of the EC'. Participants were graduate scholars of the International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs (IMPRS) at the University of Hamburg and graduate students. Their papers published here cover various legal and policy issues ranging from the maritime policy of the European Union relating to the 'Erika III Package', EMSA, security for ships and port facilities, the failed Port Package II, different aspects of fisheries management and law to sanctioning violations of MARPOL through criminal law.

This book examines legal limitations on government deficit and debt and its impact on the ability of nations to provide services to their residents. It studies constitutional and statutory limitations, as well as those imposed by international treaties and other instruments, including those of both the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The book contains a general report examining the fiscal rules that govern the budgets and expenditures of nation states. The general report is followed by a special report which covers the limits imposed by the European Union and by the smaller group of countries constituting the Eurozone. Ten national reports, describing the limits in their respective countries, form the basis of the general report. These countries include eight members of the European Union (five of which use the Euro and three of which do not), one other European state and one non-European state. The reports include two countries in which constitutional “debt brakes” limit national deficit and debt.