The Price of German Unity Reunification and the Crisis of the Welfare State

by Ritter, Gerhard A.; Deveson, Richard

ISBN13: 9780199556823

ISBN10: 0199556822

Format: Hardcover

Pub. Date: 2011-07-02

Publisher(s): Oxford University Press

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Summary

The unification of Germany as a prelude to the end of the division of Europe and the termination of the Cold War came as a surprise to the whole world. It was the beginning of a new era in German and European history. The Price of German Unityis the first full-scale analysis of this process, both domestically and in its wider international context, with a particular focus on the social-policy consequences. Gerhard A. Ritter uses a wide range of hitherto inaccessible sources to describe and analyse the dynamics of reunification, including archives from the Chancellor's Office, and the relevant ministries and major parties of both the Federal Republic and the GDR, as well as the private papers of the leading actors on both sides and a wealth of interview material. As the book convincingly demonstrates, the wholesale transfer of the social system of the Federal Republic of Germany to the territory of the former GDR and the huge drain of economic resources from West to East that this involved, profoundly affected the economic and political framework of the new Germany and greatly intensified the latent crisis of the German welfare state.

Author Biography

Gerhard A. Ritter is professor emeritus at the University of Munich and has been visiting professor at Washington University, St Louis, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and the University of Tel Aviv. A former chairman of the Association of German Historians, he is the author of numerous books on social and political history and the history of the welfare state.

Preface to the English Edition	p. ix
Translator's Note	p. xi
Introduction	p. xiii
German Unity: The Framework
The Political Framework	p. 3
The dynamics of the unification process, and the securing of unity on the international front	p. 3
The Federal Republic and the crisis in the GDR up to the end of the Modrow government	p. 3
The emergence of a new party system in the GDR and the Volkskammer elections of 18 March 1990	p. 18
The effect of unification and the approaching Bundestag elections on German politics and international relations	p. 21
German unity within the framework of international relations and domestic politics	p. 34
Government and opposition, 1991-1994	p. 41
The coalition agreement and the announcement of the government's programme	p. 41
The struggle for control of the Bundesrat	p. 45
Changes in the party system and the Bundestag elections of 16 October 1994	p. 47
German Unity and Social Policy: The Legal Framework
The end of the socialist constitution of the GDR	p. 58
The debate over the enshrining of basic social rights in the constitution	p. 60
Social policy and problems arising from unity decisions by the Federal Constitutional Court and the employment and social courts	p. 62
The European 1dimension of social policy, and judgements by the European Court of Justice	p. 66
The German Economy and the Process of Unification	p. 69
Changes in the economic system and in the legislation and institutions governing social policy	p. 69
The Europeanization of economic and financial policy, and the effects of growing globalization	p. 72
Burdens imposed on the welfare state by the transformation of the east German econom	p. 74
The weaknesses of the GDR economy	p. 74
The GDR's advantages and disadvantages in the transformation process: a comparison with the states of eastern central Europe	p. 76
The collapse of trade with eastern Europe and the, Soviet Union; problems of investment arising from the resolution of property questions	p. 78
The crisis in the east German economy and the development of the labour market	p. 83
Economic development and economic structures	p. 86
Transfer payments to east Germany and their consequences	p. 91
Comparative living standards in east and west Germany	p. 96
Changes in the world of work	p. 99
The Social Structure and Expectations from Social Policy	p. 102
Demographic change and its consequences	p. 102
Social stratification in west and east Germany	p. 109
Zeitgeist and social policy in west and east Germany, as reflected in opinion surveys	p. 111
The Creation Of The Social Union
The Central Features of the Social Union: The Legislation and Institutions Governing Social Policy in the Federal Republic and the GDR Compared	p. 119
The Social Policy of the Modrow Government	p. 131
The crisis in the health system	p. 131
Employment policy and the administrative system for employment	p. 134
Co-determination in enterprises and firms	p. 137
The FDGB and the Trade Union Law	p. 139
The Social Charter	p. 141
The State Treaty on Monetary, Economic, and Social Union	p. 144
First contacts between the Labour Ministries of the Federal Republic and the GDR after the fall of the Berlin Wall	p. 144
The drafting of the State Treaty	p. 147
The negotiations with the GDR	p. 157
The ratification of the State Treaty	p. 165
The Social Legislation of the de Maizière Government	p. 169
Employment law and health and safety legislation	p. 170
The GDR Employment Promotion Law	p. 172
The new social security system	p. 175
The start of the reorganization of the health service and of the establishment of a multipartite system of health insurance	p. 181
The Unification Treaty	p. 184
The course of the negotiations and the principal problems	p. 184
Social policy in the Unification Treaty	p. 185
Employment law and health and safety, regulation	p. 186
Agreements on protection measures against rationalization	p. 189
Early retirement, pre-pension transitional benefit, and labour market policy	p. 191
Pensions insurance	p. 192
Social provision for war victims	p. 194
Health insurance and health care	p. 194
Policy on the family and women	p. 197
The ratification of the Unification Treaty	p. 199
The Social Policy Actors and the Unification Process	p. 202
The dominant role of the executive	p. 202
The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Order	p. 204
The GDR's delegation to the negotiations	p. 206
The roles of the Bundestag, the coalition parties, and the Social Democratic opposition	p. 210
TheBundeslander	p. 216
The role of die major social forces and their organizations	p. 221
German Unification and Social Policy: Conclusions 227 lIII	p. 227
The Build-up of Welfare-State Institutions, and Providers in the New Bundeslander	p. 235
The administrative system for employment, and employment promotion policy	p. 236
Problems in the extension of Federal German employment law to the east	p. 238
The development of a new system of industrial relations	p. 242
Social insurance	p. 249
The development and further alignment of pensions insurance in the east	p. 249
Accident insurance	p. 257
Health insurance and the health system	p. 258
The introduction of social care insurance	p. 261
The build-up of support for war victims	p. 266
Support for the disabled	p. 268
The build-up of income support and of the Independent Welfare Associations	p. 270
The creation of separate jurisdictions in employment law and social law	p. 273
Conclusions	p. 276
The Debates on Germany's Economic Position and on the Problems in Financial and Social Policy Resulting from German Unity	p. 278
The competitiveness of the German economy	p. 278
The Federal Consolidation Programme	p. 281
The partial financing of German unity through social insurance	p. 285
Social policy, budgetary consolidation, and the effort to maintain Germany's economic standing, 1993/1994	p. 289
Social Policy and its Actors, 1991-1994	p. 296
The framework	p. 296
The Federal Chancellery and the coordination of policy	p. 297
Norbert Blum and the social policy coalition	p. 299
The coordination of social policy within the governing coalition	p. 300
The Bundestag, the Bundesrat, and the Social Democratic opposition	p. 301
Trade unions and employers' associations	p. 304
Summary	p. 305
Concluding Reflections	p. 307
German social policy in the context of German unification and the attempt to maintain Germany's economic standing 1989-1994: general outline, actors, and problems	p. 307
The effects of unification on the population in the east	p. 311
The German welfare state: international comparisons	p. 314
Conclusions and prospects	p. 319
Notes	p. 323
Sources and Bibliography	p. 421
Unpublished (archival) sources	p. 421
Published sources and bibliography	p. 422
Interviews	p. 450
Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations	p. 451
The Principal Actors in the Process of German Unification	p. 461
Index	p. 471
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.