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World-Market Strategy and World-Power Politics: German Europeanization and Globalization Projects in the 1990s

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The Internationalization of the German Political Economy

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

Abstract

Forty-five years after unconditional surrender and a year after the 1989 ‘November revolution’ in the GDR, it appears that a Gross-Deutschland is once again re-entering the world economy and world politics. In the face of the apparently unstoppable economic and political dynamics of the Federal Republic since the mid-1980s and the apparent momentum generated by German—German (re-)unification (initially in the form of the successive currency, economic and social unions entrenched in the Staatsvertrag, then in the 3 October 1990 Anschluss and absorption of the GDR into the West German economic and social formation) it seemed, more and more, that the internal momentum of the German-German merger also governed the speed of the strategic—military and political—diplomatic ‘regulation’ of the ‘external’, international aspects of the German unification process. In and around the ‘German question’, so we hear, the far-reaching reorganization and political and economic restructuring the entire basic framework of European politics is being accomplished with unprecedented speed and with direct and indirect global effects. Everywhere it is being said that the ‘German decade’ of the 1990s is going to take the place of the ‘Japanese decade’ of the 1980s.

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Notes

  1. See Theo Sommer, ‘Die Lady lässt sich nicht erweichen’, Die Zeit, no. 15 (1990) p. 3; ‘Hey to the Germans’, New York Times, 22 July 1990;

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  3. See Robert Picht, ‘Deutsch-französische Beziehungen nach dem Fall der Mauer: Angst vor “Grossdeutschland?”’; Integration, no. 2 (1990) pp. 47 ff.;

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  4. Alain Minc, Die deutsche Herausforderung, (Hamburg: Stern, 1989) (German translation of the French original: La grande illusion (Paris, 1988);

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  5. Also interview with Alain Minc, ‘Vorher waren sie selbstsicher, jetzt sind sie arrogant’, Die Zeit, no 18 (1990) pp. 35–6.

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  6. See, for example, ‘Hollands negatives Deutschlandbild’, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 5 May 1990, p. 5; and the references in Frieder Schlupp, ‘“Europa” als Hegemonialprojekt’, Zeitschrift für sozialistische Politik und Wirtschaft, no. 46 (April 1989) pp. 127ff.

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  7. A current overview of the relevant research and debates is contained in Dirk Berg-Schlosser, ‘Entwicklung der Politischen Kultur in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland’, Aus politik und zeitgeschichte, no. 7 (1990) pp. 30ff.

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  9. See the summary in Manfred G. Schmidt, ‘Die Politik des mittleren Weges. Besonderheiten der Staatstätigkeit in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland’, aus politik und zeitgeschichte, no. 9–10, pp. 23ff.; but also see the overview of the state-theory debate in Ulrich Jurgens, ‘Entwicklungslinien der staatstheoretischen Diskussion seit den siebziger Jahren’, ibid., pp. 14ff. Far more critical analytical approaches and results are produced as part of the debate theoretically centred on ‘regulation’ and ‘Fordism’; see, for instance, the survey in Uwe Becker, ‘Akkumulation, Regulation und Hegemonie. Logische Korrespondenz oder historische Konstellation?’, Politische Vierteljahresschrift, no. 2 (1989) pp. 230ff.

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  11. Karl W. Deutsch, Politische Kybernetik (German translation of The Nerves of Government) (Freiburg: Wolter, 1973) p. 171.

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  12. See Schlupp (Note 7 above). Quite different views are to be found in Christian Hacke, Weltmacht wider Willen. Die Aussenpolitik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1988);

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  13. Volker Rittberger, ‘Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland — eine Weltmacht?’, aus politik und zeitgeschichte, no. 4–5 (1990) pp. 3ff.

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  14. See Frieder Schlupp, ‘Geschichte, Stand und Tendenzen der Diskussion uber Multinationale Konzerne’, in Peter H. Mettler (ed.), Multinationale Konzerne in der Bundesrepublik (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1985), pp. A 1ff.;

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  18. On the theoretical background, see Christian Deubner, Udo Rehfeld, Frieder Schlupp and Gilbert Ziebura, Die Internationalisierung des Kapitals. Neue Theorien in der internationalen Diskussion (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1979);

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  19. In relation to concrete analysis of the case of the FRG, see Frieder Schlupp, ‘Internationalisierung und Krise — das Modell Deutschland im metropolitanen Kapitalismus’, Leviathan, no. 1 (1979) pp. 12ff.;

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  20. Frieder Schlupp, ‘Germany’, in Dudley Seers and Constantine Vaitsos (eds), Integration and Unequal Development. The Experience of the EEC (London: Cape, 1980) pp. 176ff.

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  21. On this, see, inter alia, Leviathan, no. 1 (1979); Andrei S. Markovits (ed.) The Political Economy of West Germany. Modell Deutschland (New York: Praeger, 1982);

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  25. The borders between ‘old’ nationalism and ‘new’ patriotism, between domestic policy fixation on the ‘strong state’ and the foreign policy orientation to ostensibly ‘classical’ principles and instruments of the Machtstaat are at present very fluid both in party politics and in analysis. On the national-conservative side, see for example Hans-Peter Schwarz, Die gezähmten Deutschen (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1985);

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  27. Klaus Weigelt (ed.), Patriotismus in Europa (Bonn: Bouvier-Verlag, 1988); and Hacke (see Note 9 above).

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  28. See Frieder Schlupp, ‘Neue Technologien und “neue” neue internationale Arbeitsteilung’, in DGB (ed.), Von nationaler Eigenfertigung zu weltweiter Beschaffung (Düsseldorf: Econ, 1989) pp. 44ff.;

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  29. Frieder Schlupp, ‘Mega-Chip Politics and Policies in Western Europe: The Case of West Germany’, in Ulrich Hilpert (ed.), State, Technology and Un-Intended Consequences (London, 1990) (German version, Opladen: Westdeutscher, 1990);

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  30. Gerd Junne and Frieder Schlupp, ‘State Research and Technology Policy and International Competition in Information- and Bio-Technology: West Germany versus the U.S. and Japan, 1987 manuscript, published in Italian translation as ‘Politiche statali e competizione internationle’, Rivistra Trimestrale di scienza Dell’Administrazione, no. 2 (1988) pp. 91ff.;

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  33. See Ulrich Dolata, ‘Modernisierung und Umprofilierung der Konzernstrukturen in der Automobilindustrie’, WSI-Mitteilungen, no. 1 (1990) pp. 37ff.; on the chemical industry

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  34. See Hans Wessels, ‘Chemische Industrie: forschungs- und exportintensiv’, DIW-Wochenbericht, no. 32 (1989) pp. 377ff.

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  35. On Siemens—IBM and JESSI—SEMATECH, see Frieder Schlupp (Note 16 above) in Hilpert (ed.) State, Technology; on the reorganization at the European level, see Rob van Tulder and Gerd Junne, European Multinationals in Core Technologies (Chichester: Levit, 1988);

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  36. Wayne Sandholtz and Hohn Zysman, ‘1992: Recasting the European Bargain’, World Politics (October 1989) pp. 95ff.;

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  37. On Daimler-Benz—Mitsubishi—UTC, see Helmut Becker, ‘Grösste Allianz aller Zeiten?’, Die Zeit, no. 12 (1990) p. 42; ‘A Waltz of Giants Sends Shock Waves Worldwide’, Business Week 19 March 1990, pp. 17–18; ‘Daimler und United Technologies fliegen vereint’, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 20 March 1990, p. 31.

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  38. On comprehensive lines of development see also Joachim Hirsch and Roland Roth, Das neue Gesicht des Kapitalismus (Hamburg, 1986).

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  39. In what follows we cannot enter into the specific form and function of the banks, but see, for example, Hermanus Pfeiffer, Die Nacht am Main. Einfluss und Politik der deutschen Grosshanken (Cologne: Rugenstein, 1989)

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  40. On the concepts of ruling strategy and power bloc, see the contributions of Bob Jessop, most recently ‘Old Britain vs. New Times: Is There a Thatcherite Power Bloc?’, paper for the conference ‘After the crisis’, Amsterdam, 18–20 April 1990.

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  46. And the critical reply from Kurt Biedenkopf, ‘Recht schafft Frieden. Eine Antwort auf Edzard Reuters kolossalwirtschaftliches Konzept’, Die Zeit, no. 17 (1990) p. 28. On the ‘Stuttgart Declaration’ by a ‘Managerial Summit Conference’ of the most important Western European MNCs, see ‘manager fordern fairen Wettbewerb’, Südkurier, 23 April 1990, p. 6.

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  47. Jürgen Habermas, ‘Der DM-Nationalismus’, Die Zeit, no. 14 (1990) pp. 62–3.

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  48. On business with the Russians in the inter-war period, including its foreign policy aspects, see Rolf-Dieter Muller, Das Tor zur Weltmacht. Die Bedeutung der Sowjetunion für die deutsche Wirtschafts — und Rüstungspolitik zwischen der Weltkriegen (Boppard: Paul Hehl, 1984).

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  49. On this, see — despite all their optimistic protestations — the very ambiguous conclusions reached by some relevant studies immanent to the CCE: Simon Bulmer and William Paterson, The Federal Republic of Germany and the European Community (London: Allen & Unwin, 1987);

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  50. William Wallace, ‘Germany’s Unavoidable Central Role: Beyond Myths and Traumas’, in W. Wessels and E. Regelsberger (eds), The Federal Republic of Germany and the European Community: The Presidency and Beyond (Bonn: EEC, 1988) pp. 297ff.;

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  51. Simon Bulmer and William Paterson, ‘West Germany’s Role in Europe: “Man-Mountain” or “Semi-Gulliver”?’, Journal of Common Market Studies, no. 2 (December 1989) pp. 200ff. Significantly, the concluding words of the latter article are, ‘Gulliver does not wish to be wakened from his Machtvergessenheit (H.-P. Schwarz). And would these allies really like it if the West German “man-mountain” far less a reunified Germany, were to rise up and use all its formidable might? This would be a different Europe indeed’ (ibid., p. 116).

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Authors
  1. Frieder Schlupp
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Studies, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada

    William D. Graf (Professor and Chair) (Professor and Chair)

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© 1992 William D. Graf

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Schlupp, F. (1992). World-Market Strategy and World-Power Politics: German Europeanization and Globalization Projects in the 1990s. In: Graf, W.D. (eds) The Internationalization of the German Political Economy. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22227-8_13

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