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The Rise and Fall of a Socialist Welfare State

The German Democratic Republic (1949-1990) and German Unification (1989-1994)

  • Book
  • © 2013

Overview

Authors:
  1. Manfred G. Schmidt

    1. , Institut für Politische Wissenschaft, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

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  2. Gerhard A. Ritter

    1. Berlin, Germany

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  • Original studies of social policy in the German Democratic Republic and of the pivotal role of social policy in the process of German unification in 1990
  • Includes an award winning study of German unification and its repercussions (1989-1994)
  • Broadly based on archival sources and interviews with key actors
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: German Social Policy (GSP, volume 4)

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Table of contents (3 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. Nation State and Social Policy: An Ideational and Political History

    • Lutz Leisering
    Pages 1-22

  3. Social Policy in the German Democratic Republic

    • Manfred G. Schmidt
    Pages 23-166

  4. The Politics of German Unification. Social, Economic, Financial, Constitutional and International Issues

    • Gerhard A. Ritter
    Pages 167-287

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 289-305
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Keywords

About this book

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of social policy in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, 1949-1990), followed by an analysis of the “Social Union”, the transformation of social policy in the process of German unification in 1990. Schmidt’s analysis of the GDR also depicts commonalities and differences between the welfare state in East and West Germany as well as in other East European and Western countries. He concludes that the GDR was unable to cope with the trade-off between ambitious social policy goals and a deteriorating economic performance. Ritter embeds his analysis of the Social Union in a general study of German unification, its international circumstances and its domestic repercussions (1989-1994). He argues that social policy played a pivotal role in German unification, and that there was no alternative to extending the West German welfare state to the East. Ritter, a distinguished historian, bases his contribution on an award-winning study for which he drew on archival sources and interviews with key actors. Schmidt is a distinguished political scientist.

Authors and Affiliations

  • , Institut für Politische Wissenschaft, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred G. Schmidt

  • Berlin, Germany

    Gerhard A. Ritter

About the authors

Manfred G. Schmidt is Professor for Political Science at the University of Heidelberg. He has widely published on European and international politics. He was awarded the Stein Rokkan Prize for International Comparative Research and the Leibniz Prize.

Gerhard A. Ritter is Professor emeritus for Social History at the University of Munich. He studied history and political science in Berlin and Oxford. He has been awarded honorary doctorates and prizes for his studies in German and comparative history.

Lutz Leisering, the Editor, is Professor for Social Policy and Director at the Institute for World Society studies, University of Bielefeld. He took his Ph.D. at the London School of Economics. He has published widely on European and global social policy.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Rise and Fall of a Socialist Welfare State

  • Book Subtitle: The German Democratic Republic (1949-1990) and German Unification (1989-1994)

  • Authors: Manfred G. Schmidt, Gerhard A. Ritter

  • Series Title: German Social Policy

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22528-4

  • Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Business and Economics, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-642-22527-7Published: 15 November 2012

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-44703-7Published: 14 December 2014

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-22528-4Published: 15 November 2012

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 308

  • Additional Information: Translated from the German. Originally published as: "Geschichte der Sozialpolitik in Deutschland seit 1945" by Nomos Publishers, 2001.

  • Topics: Social Policy, Political Science, History, general

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