Comquirk

What did I just say?

I'm using this post as a surrogate email to myself, because the library computer I'm on won't let me access any email whatsoever. So, I plan to post some school stuff in this thread.

If this isn't cool mods, lock if you must, but please, for the IPU's sake, don't delete it!!

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My paper will discuss the fall of the East German state as the eventual result of the 1968 constitution and 1974 revision. This constitution and revision were the first steps to re-orient East Germany as being much more 'Soviet'. The constitution restricted many of the freedoms East Germans had had since the end of the war. These freedoms still existed in the constitution; They were now, however, subject to a proviso that said they must be excersied in harmony with the principles of the new constitution. This allowed the East German government, in practice, to restrict these freedoms whenever wished.
The 1974 revision to the constitution hit Germans with another blow; the word "German" had been virtually eliminated. Originally declared a "socialist state within a German nation," to a "socialist state of workers and farmers." The original constitution's pledge to reunite Germany was also eliminated, replaced with a pledge of to be "forever and irrevocable allied with the USSR.


Fritsch-Bournazel, Renata. Europe and German Unification.
Worcester: Berg Publishers, 1992.

Providing greater context for the reunification, this book considers the factors in Europe at the time. It presents excerpts from speeches and other first hand accounts. It also shows how East Germany responded to the values of Eurpoe, through its own constitution and laws.

MacAdams, A. James. "Germany After Unification: Normal at Last?"
World Politics 49.2
(1997): 282-308

This article talks about the return to "normalcy" after reunification. It looks at the challaenges faced by a new German state to reconcile the two former, and very different, states. The differences of the past and how the states have managed to work together are discussed, as well as the burden now faced by the former West Germany as it tries to reintegrate the former East.


Philipsen, Dirk. We Were the People; Voices from East Germany's
Revolutionary Autumn of 1989 . Durham; Duke University Press,
1993

This is a collection of interviews with the people actually present and involved with the 1989 revolution in East Germany, as well as those who wroked against it. It provides first hand accounts of what happened, and the reasons why it happened.

Turner Jr., Harry Ashby. Germany from Partition to Reunification.
Binghampton: Yale University Press, 1992.

This book gives a general overview of the histories of the two German states. Most relevant to this paper is the chapter enititled "Collapse and Reunification," which deals with the problems that led to East Germany's collapse and reunification with the west.

ImGod

Couldn't you have PM'd yourself and saved the hassle? Just wondering.

Demosthenes

well this isn't cool with us. I won't lock this thread or delete it, so your information is safe for the time being, but please don't do it again. You can simply PM yourself instead.

Soul Invictus

What can I say...I'm a sucker for curiosity and rebelliousness!

Comquirk

I wonder why didn't think of that... I'll do that now, and do with this thread what you will.

French Prometheus

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Grammar

It's Europe (or Yurrup if you're a neocon).

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Comquirk

Thanks! I was planning to run it through the spell check when I got back, but that wouldn't have helped grammar.

French Prometheus

You're welcome

openeyes

You have at least 88 views of something you told people to just skip.

Go figure.

ju'iblex

I came in thinking it was an accidental thread which i need to move/close or whatever. Instead I find someone who thinks II is his own personal storage space like geocities or whatever. It takes all kinds.