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Society

Our societies are changing on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to demographic change, immigration and integration, and regional differences—among other factors. Greater understanding about our cultures, an open exchange about emerging issues, and fostering dialogue between different groups can help German and American societies build stronger internal and external connections and awareness.
Reset

Dusting Off Local Politics: New Ideas for Political Participation in Rust Belt Cities 

Our world today is increasingly marked by social divisions. The political fault lines can be witnessed between liberals and conservatives, generationally between millennials and boomers, or geographically between urban and rural …

Building Diverse Communities: Toolkits for Global Cities

By 2040, one-third of Germans will have a “migration background.” Around the same time, the United States will become a majority-minority country, with immigration contributing to this demographic change. In …

The Unbroken Past: From Germany to Shanghai to San Francisco

Kurt and Jeannette Nothenberg lived comfortably in the middle class in Germany raising their only child, Rudy.  Following Kristallnacht, Kurt was arrested and sent to Buchenwald, but was later released …

The Fall of the Wall as a Memory of Joy

Few countries have had to grapple with such a complex historical legacy as Germany. Among the many challenging issues arising from this past has the been the dynamic between appropriately …

Witness to History: An American in Berlin for the Fall of the Wall

I think often of the good luck I had in moving to West Berlin in September 1989. The dramatic events of the months ahead were to leave memories that greatly …

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Inner Unity and Regional Diversity

The unification of the two German states in 1990 prompted expectations of harmonization in political culture and promises of equivalent living conditions. Almost three decades later, the revival of narratives …

On the Halle Synagogue Attacks

Everyone in the AGI community grieves and condemns the right-radical, anti-Semitic terrorist incident that occurred on Yom Kippur, Wednesday, October 9, 2019, in the city of Halle. By now, the …

Migration and Integration in Germany: The First Two Decades of the Twenty-First Century

Issue Brief 60 Few issues in recent years have dominated public and political discourse inside and outside of Germany as migration and integration. The movement of millions of people into …

Migration and Integration in Germany: The First Two Decades of the Twenty-First Century

Migration and integration have become dominant political topics in the United States and Germany. The German experience in 2015-2016 is often cited in the U.S. discourse on migration, but there …

Welcoming Places – Few and Far Between?

These days negative and at times dehumanizing rhetoric aimed at migrants—both legal and undocumented and of varying religious and ethnic make-up—are grabbing headlines around the globe. The trend to ignore …

Merve Schmitz-Vardar, Visiting Fellow

AGI is pleased to welcome Merve Schmitz-Vardar as a Visiting Fellow at AGI from August to October 2019.  Ms. Schmitz-Vardar is a research and teaching assistant at the Chair of …

The Dehumanization of Immigrants and the Rise of the Extreme Right

The ascendance of the far right has jolted both American and European politics. It has undermined liberal democracy in Hungary and Poland, and threatens it throughout Europe. That ascendance depends …