A Farewell to Power: Germany’s Social Democratic Party After the Election of a New Party Leadership
The Social Democratic Party, Germany’s oldest democratic party which emerged from an early German labor movement, survived the challenge of communism after World War I, was forced into exile during …
Social Democracy in Search of Its Identity
Despite untamed global capitalism and growing inequality within advanced economies, the traditional left continues to be in sharp decline. Social democratic parties lost significant support in almost all Western democracies, …
Maneuvering Around the Middle: Party Politics in 2020
In the last two weeks, four political parties in Germany have gathered at their annual conferences to start positioning themselves for the next federal election, currently scheduled for 2021. In …
The Grand Coalition’s Mid-term Review and Recent Legislation
German politics has become much more unpredictable in recent years. There have been half a dozen instances when it seemed that the rather unloved grand coalition (GroKo) would break up …
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 …
Recent Authors
AGI provides knowledge, insights, and networks as tools to solve the challenges ahead.
Support Our Work
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 September 1952 Reparations Agreement between West Germany and Israel: The Beginning of a Remarkable Friendship
The thorny issue of reparations for war-time crimes against humanity, material losses, despoliation, and human rights abuses has dominated the political sphere in the last several months. On the international …
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 …
Great Expectations: Germany, America, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall Thirty Years Later
As Germany commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a look back to 1989 and the expectations that surrounded that momentous event reveals some that were …
Anticipating Uncertainty: Lessons from 1989 for 2020
As we approach the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, some of us might recall where we were when we heard the news of …
Deutschland einig Mutti-Land?
Characterized as “the triumph of the Vaterland,” unification was a male-normed, male-dominated process, despite the significantly different gender regimes found in the two German states through 1989. In July 1990, Helmut Kohl …
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 …
