German Politics (15/01/2007)

On the topic of this nature, we should perhaps start from the beginning. So let me begin.

The Ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle argued that ''a man is by nature a political animal''. The assertion by Aristotle views humans as political actors whether their politically conscious or not but central is that their actions are politically orientated.
Equally so, is to firmly understand that the family is the basic unity of every society, precisely because it is the centre-stage of the entire political spectrum.

Therefore, for us to be able to understand German ''politics'' I think we must appreciate the fact and fix it firmly in our minds that German politics cannot be understood outside the European context. Hence, the premise will be to argue that European history has been largely characterised by wars and all these wars occurred on the German soil.

Germany as a country did not exist before 1812 -but only was a collective of Dukes which were scattered all over Europe and only after the Congress of Vienna did Germany become a sovereign state. The political instability in Europe brought misery and pessimism to the general population as society was engulfed by wars.

The 1st World War in 1914-1919 took place primarily in Europe with the Allied powers such as Britain, France, USA and the Soviet Union against Austria-Hungary, the German Empire and Bulgaria. The war ended by the signing of the Treaty of Versailles but it left millions dead and it reshaped the modern world. The Allied powers were victorious and Germans lost the war.

In essence this brought a change in the German political landscape, the German empire was banished and Germany became a ''Republic'' for the first time in history called “Weimar Republic”. As we might understand that society is not static, this could find expression in below proposition.

In 1933 the eloquent Adolf Hitler ascended into power as the German ruler. His philosophy of governance completely destroyed the entire German society. Civil strife became the order of the day as his government brutally suppressed all form of opposition within his territory. One may deduce to say that German became his own ''empire'' and his dictatorial tendencies spilled over. The above assertion could be best buttressed by the fact that in 1939 German attacked Poland and later invaded the Soviet Union. This resulted in the 2nd World War which ended in 1945 with the Allied powers emerging as winners again.

What is interesting about the 2nd World War is that only the US and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers and this drastically changed the entire global political landscape. Most countries were either align themselves with US/Soviet Union and most important was that the difference between the US and the Soviet Union was largely based on the economic policy with the latter subscribing to the "Socialist path "while the former believed in the "free market system".

After the war, Germany was divided along these two lines with East Germany being more of a socialist-orientated state under the Soviet rule. Whilst on the other hand West Germany advocated a capitalist system under the US guidance. The after effects of the war were unbearable as they completely destroyed Germany’s infrastructure, many were in dire poverty, evidently is the case in Berlin where civilians estimated at three million were fed by the US air force.

Obviously the 1940's epoch in the politics of German is a turbulent one. In 1948 in Frankfurt the people sat in an Assembly to formulate positions on how Germany should look like and this resulted in resolution of making the first German constitution known as a "Basic Law". This can be perceived to be a milestone in German history; for the first time people were to be protected by law.

The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 which practically divided Germans into "two nations", the other nation was from the East who felt that they must protect their country from the bourgeoisie and the West who on the other side felt that they have been cut-off in all spheres of life including trade etc. The student politics also played a pivotal role in this era as many students were heavily political conscious and very rebellious of the status quo.

The late 1980's saw a paradigm shift in the German political landscape as the Berlin Wall collapsed which marked the end of the cold war and Germany was unified and became a Federal state in 1990.

In the current conjuncture, we witnessed a very stable Germany with one of the most advanced economies in the entire world. Today Germany is in the centre of Europe and everything is centred around it. It is not disputed that Germany is one of the key role players in the European Union as it is leading members when it comes to trade relations. At governmental level for the first time in history the country has a female Chancellor who is the head of state. Remarkably is how the country has fast tracked to address gender disparities.

Economically the country is stable as much as the social welfare system is perceived to be flawed. Basic needs such as health care and education are accessible and a right to every citizen whilst in many countries these are privileges!

Melikhaya Pikini