Germany is the only country in the world where two major transformations are taking place at the same time: a process of modernization in the west and a transition from command economy to free market economy in the east. In this work, Langguth highlights the dramatic social and political changes occurring in east and west Germany. He concludes that the increasingly complex European political and social landscape and the new diversity of lifestyles in Germany have raised levels of insecurity among individual Germans. Moreover, the end of the bipolar world, with its rigid political, social, and economic structures, is requiring Germans--particularly German youth--to adjust their political and philosophical positions. This important work will be of interest to scholars and students of Germany and the contemporary European scene.

The Green Party evolved out of a number of protest movements of the late 1960s and 1970s and became a major political factor in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1983 when it drew enough votes to send twenty-seven members to the Bundestag. The author follows the party's rise from new social and ecological groups to its current place in the Federal parliament and provincial legislatures. He addresses the questions raised by Green Party members and by the unrest they have engendered-whether they believe in parliamentary democracy, what effect their policy of replacing delegates in parliament at midsession will have on the parliament and the party, and how they relate to Germany's traditional political parties. The answers to these and other questions form the background for an appraisal of the Green party in which the author traces the development of its role from a political irritant to a factor of serious influence.

The Green Party evolved out of a number of protest movements of the late 1960s and 1970s and became a major political factor in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1983 when it drew enough votes to send twenty-seven members to the Bundestag. The author follows the party's rise from new social and ecological groups to its current place in the Federal parliament and provincial legislatures. He addresses the questions raised by Green Party members and by the unrest they have engendered-whether they believe in parliamentary democracy, what effect their policy of replacing delegates in parliament at midsession will have on the parliament and the party, and how they relate to Germany's traditional political parties. The answers to these and other questions form the background for an appraisal of the Green party in which the author traces the development of its role from a political irritant to a factor of serious influence.

Germany is the only country in the world where two major transformations are taking place at the same time: a process of modernization in the west and a transition from command economy to free market economy in the east. In this work, Langguth highlights the dramatic social and political changes occurring in east and west Germany. He concludes that the increasingly complex European political and social landscape and the new diversity of lifestyles in Germany have raised levels of insecurity among individual Germans. Moreover, the end of the bipolar world, with its rigid political, social, and economic structures, is requiring Germans--particularly German youth--to adjust their political and philosophical positions. This important work will be of interest to scholars and students of Germany and the contemporary European scene.