Reinventing the Nation
Germany’s Post-Unification Drive Towards Becoming a ‘Country of Immigration
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6262513 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Oliver Schmidtke (0000-0002-8884-7104, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 498-515 |
| Publication date | 2017-10-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | German Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0964-4008 • E-ISSN: 1743-8993 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09644008.2017.1365137 |
| OpenAlex | W2768696688 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
Germany's leading role in responding to the current refugee crisis in Europe reflects a development of its approach towards migration and cultural diversity that would have been difficult to imagine 27 years ago. German unification was a decisive trigger for changing the country's sense of nationhood and the popular narrative of what constitutes modes of legitimate belonging and inclusion. The hypothesis of this article is that over the two and a half decades Germany has shifted the coding of its national identity from an ethno-cultural framing to one that is primarily based on civic political principles. A comparison between framing strategies of the political elite in two periods (1990–95 and 2010–15) serves as an empirical indicator for the scope and nature of this transformation. The article identifies four factors to explain what has instigated this change and what is driving the long-term socio-political transformation of German society as a result of growing migration and cultural diversity: (a) the demographic change and transformation of civil society through migration; (b) the growing relevance of European communal belonging; (c) the dynamic of competitive party politics; and (d) the significance of the subnational level in addressing migration and diversity matters
Development economics · Economics · Elite · Framing (construction · Geography · German · Immigration · Narrative · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Unification · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements
Migration and Social Protection in Europe and Beyond (Volume 2)
Policy Formation and Citizenship Practices
“Terms such as ‘true German’ […] belong in the history books”
Transforming the centre right in Germany and the United Kingdom
Where are you from?’ The affective and emotional dimensions of an ambiguous event of everyday racism
Collective memory in Germany and the great foreign policy debate
Grand Coalition Policy Meets the EU’s Multiple Crises
We can(’t) do this
Migration as a building bloc of middle-class nation-building? The growing rift between Germany's centre-right and right-wing parties
Germany as 'a country of integration'? The CDU/CSU's policies and discourses on immigration during Angela Merkel's Chancellorship
Ambivalent meanings of the past
Whither Willkommenskultur ? National identity discourses and the arrival of refugees in Germany in 2015/16
| Citations per year | 1.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2025 (8) |
| Highly cited | No |