*** CORINE DEFRANCE, MICHAEL KIßENER, JAN KUSBER, PIA NORDBLOM (Eds.): Deutschland - Frankreich - Polen seit 1945. Transfer und Kooperation. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, P.O. Box 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel. (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet http://www.peterlang.com ). "Deutschland in den internationalen Beziehungen" series. 2014, 291 pp, €44.90. ISBN 978-2-87574-209-4.
This collection of articles aims to paint a broad picture of French-German-Polish cooperation in the Weimar triangle. Plenty of articles are richly documented and well-written by connoisseurs in the subject. The general interest of the book is firstly the way it describes the genesis and conception of the Weimar triangle (in articles, for example, by Hans-Jürgen Bömelburg and Dieter Bingen), while being relatively neutral and avoiding the focus often placed on 'traditional' subjects relating to the reconciliation between Germany and its neighbours. In fact, the articles by Michaël Kißener and Jan Kusber in the first part of the book mention the international context of relations between the three countries, a context that plays a key role but tends to be underestimated in articles on such questions. The book also usefully describes the multifarious aspect of the Weimar triangle, given the existence of inter-regional cooperation programmes among the three countries ("little Weimar triangles"). This recurrent aspect appears, for example, in articles by Jérôme Vaillant on trilateral diplomatic approaches, and by Frédéric Plasson on economic cooperation within the triangle.
The successes of the Weimar triangle (along with its many restrictions) in diplomatic, economic, academic, linguistic cooperation and relations between civil society in the countries are highlighted by most of the authors. One angle of approach is whether the Franco-German experience can serve as a reference, or a tool box, for the establishment of contact with Poland. This issue is mainly considered in the section of the book dealing with the transfer and exchange of experience among the three countries. The answers provided to this question by Corine Defrance and Eva Sabine Kuntz in their studies for the Franco-German Youth Office (OFAJ) and Franco-Polish Youth Office (OGPJ) respectively are nuanced in that the background against which the cooperation programmes were set up differs. The impact of trilateral Franco-German-Polish cooperation on civil society is also examined in detail, be it in an article by E.S. Kuntz or an article by Tanja Hermann on the twinning of the town of Wolfsburg in Germany with Marignane in France and Bielsko-Biala in Poland, illustrating the motivating factors in the running of these twinning programmes, along with the human or political obstacles and limits. Some authors have chosen original subject matter. Tomasz Schramm, for example, who examines Franco-Polish relations since 1945, a subject of which there is little public awareness, particularly for the period 1945-1989. Originality can sometimes be problematic - in an article by Lisa Bicknell on German-Polish reconciliation initiatives since the 1960s, which looks at initiatives made by the various churches in Germany and Poland during those years, some of the quotations would have been better shortened, commented upon at greater length or even corrected. Pierre-Frédéric Weber looks at bordering on Germany as a factor of good luck or as an obstacle for two regions that used to be part of Germany, viz. Alsace in France and Upper Silesia in Poland. This subject that is so attractive at first sight becomes difficult to deal with because the regions in question have more differences than commonalties, which seems to cause problems for the author on more than one occasion. He ignores one important commonality between the two regions, namely the French and Polish governments' policies vis-à-vis the dialects spoken in Upper Silesia and Alsace (the latter is not mentioned).
The essays broadly highlight two ideas. Firstly, Germany is the cornerstone in these trilateral cooperation programmes for two reasons - the exchanges between Poland and the other two countries are far less intense, partly for historical reasons (which is the weakness of Poland); but these days, there is not much interest in France in this trilateral cooperation (particularly with Poland) and this is the weakness of France. Secondly, despite the various successes, the impact of the Weimar triangle has been disappointing, highly disappointing. These two statements are documented and argued in a convincing manner, but the various authors have trouble finding innovative solutions. In their very interesting article on academic and scientific cooperation, Kornelia Koñczal and Robert Zurek examine the very meaning of the Weimar triangle in their domain of research. Their answer is that trilateral co-operation should be continued and encouraged, but this is more from personal conviction than from the evidence. The lack of reflection on the meaning and relevance of the Weimar triangle today may in fact be not only a weakness of the aforementioned article, but also of the collection as a whole. The solutions put forward in terms of the apathy of various players and the shortcomings in this trilateral cooperation (which has run out of human and financial resources) will be an ignored appeal if the aims of this trilateral cooperation are not more clearly redefined and better targeted. Despite these few criticisms, the book remains a highly useful reference with mostly high-level contributions.
Guillaume Lelorain
*** MICHEL HAU: France-Allemagne: la difficile convergence. Peter Lang (see above). "Convergences" series, No. 84. 2015, 215 pp, €32.80. ISBN 978-3-0343-1604-0.
The main reason why the Franco-German 'engine' is no longer what it used to be in terms of building the European Union is largely because of the ever more manifest weakness of France. The author of this book, a professor who headed the Economic and Social History Institute at Strasbourg University for twenty-eight years, looks back to the historical sources of the structural dissimilarities between France and Germany that lead to the now obvious economic and therefore political decline of France and consequently to the irresistible rise of Germany against the European backdrop. In the book, Michel Hau shows how since the collapse of the Charlemagne empire, the two countries have followed such differing trajectories that they have become foreign planets to each other in cultural and political terms. His analysis demonstrates this, be it for the different educational projects, 'capitalism of unequal strength,' the way the State views companies or the historically different nature of social relations and trade union attitudes. Thanks to the European project, France has gradually come close to its neighbour on the other side of the Rhine, but not without dragging its feet and resisting. The chapter the author devotes to how Germany gets France to budge is enlightening in this respect. Paris and Germany with first Bonn and then with Berlin as its capital have of course a different view of inflation, and it is in the monetary domain that the French are lagging the most obviously behind, including for 'the decisive step towards supernationality' taken when François Mitterrand and Giulio Andreotti felt that in the wake of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, they could 'exchange the reunification of Germany for the end of the Deutschmark and the monetary union which it caused Europe to be burdened with.' In reality, points out Prof. Hau, it was Chancellor Kohl who won the day by ensuring that one day the Deutschmark would take the form of the… euro, with the tightened belt policy cultivated by the Bundesbank remaining in place - as is shown by how the turbulence of recent years has been managed. It is clearly evident that Berlin was able to ensure that all the eurozone returned to competitiveness by reducing labour costs and restoring budget equilibrium by means of austerity. It is likely that France will be 'brought' willy-nilly 'to follow suit in its turn.' Is it enough to simply state in the European context that Germany finds itself in a 'hegemonic position because of a desire for power'? This clearly raises a question because it is a fact that the euro is the currency of other countries too, and not solely of Germany…
(MT)
*** MICHEL GRUNEWALD, HANS-JÜRGEN LÜSEBRINK, REINER MARCOWITZ, UWE PUSCHNER (Eds.): France-Allemagne au XXe siècle - La production de savoir sur l'Autre (Vol. 4) / Deutschland und Frankreich im 20. Jahrhundert - Akademische Wissensproduktion über das andere Land. Peter Lang (see above). "Convergences" series, No. 82. 2014, 394 pp, €91.80. ISBN 978-3-0343-1572-2.
This book is the culmination of a research programme at Lorraine University, carried out by a number of French and German academic bodies from 2010 to 2013. The three previous books arising from the programme looked at German research into France and French research into Germany in the light of the history of human science disciplines on either side of the Rhine, and then fundamental university players in both countries, the production of knowledge about the Other, and finally, the institutions devoted to this generation. In this volume, it is the media that contributed to this projection of knowledge that come under the researchers' spotlight as they first examine scientific journals, then specialist series and electronic media, and finally cultural reviews and magazines about history.
(PBo)
*** JOCHEN ZENTHÖFER: Zäit fir ee Bilan. Die erste Bilanz der Ära Juncker. Jochen Zenthöfer (9 rue du Travail, L-2625 Luxembourg). 2015, 123 pp. ISBN 978-99959-0-145-5.
This short book in German (but with a title in Luxemburgish) is a collection of statistics and comments that aim to draw up a balance sheet of Jean-Claude Juncker's time as prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013. The layout is fun and friendly. On each page, two children comment on figures from the domains of social cohesion, teaching, training, crime and sustainable development of the economy and give Juncker scores in each of these domains. Unfortunately, the content of this collection of commented statistics is disappointing and not very rigorous. The author skims over extremely complex subjects by comparing Luxembourg, without any methodological caution, with other countries that may well be neighbours, but are so much bigger that hasty conclusions should not be drawn in areas that are sometimes not well grasped such as the economy and sociology. In addition, some statistics relate to people's feelings or views, which are eminently suggestive. The method utilised is itself often problematic - this is a balance sheet of Juncker's policies over eighteen years, but the figures used often relate solely to the last year or last years of his term of office. Finally, the author sometimes uses articles from newspapers as his source. This balance sheet of the Juncker era is therefore amusing but not a proper balance sheet.
(GLe)
*** IOANNIS N. GRIGORIADIS: La religion et le nationalisme en Grèce et en Turquie: une 'Synthèse Sacrée.' Editions Epikentro (9 rue Kamvounion, GR-54621 Thessalonica. Tel: (30-231) 0256146 - Fax: 0256148 - Email: http://www.epikentro.gr ). 'Histoire et Société' series. 2015, 256 pp. ISBN 978-960-458572-4.
This comparative study examines two countries and two religions, with a professor of political science and public administration from Bilkent University in Turkey exploring changes in the role of religion in the forming of Greek and Turkish identity. Over the course of a century, Greek and Turkish nationalisms have gone from hostility to religion to a 'sacred synthesis' that argues that far from being enemies, state and religion complement each other. The author, who is also an associate researcher at the Hellenic Foundation for European Policy and the Mediterranean, says that religion has provided nationalism with symbolic resources and has helped build the two nations. Religion today is the still the main criterion for defining the Greek and Turkish peoples. This book is the first interesting study of the role of religion in the forming of nationalism in the two countries, in which the author argues that the development in the direction of a return of religion in both states can be interpreted as an absolute necessity for integration of the population, above and beyond ethnic, linguistic and cultural differences.
(AKa)
*** ANGELOS SYRIGOS: Les relations gréco-turques. Editions Patakis (38 Panayi Tsaldari, GR-10437 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3650000 - Fax: 3811940 - Email: bookstore@patakis.gr - Internet: http://www.patakis.gr ). 'Sciences sociales et politiques' series. 2015, 896 pp, €66.00. ISBN 978-960-165376-1.
This book describes in a remarkable manner all aspects of Greco-Turkish relations from the Asia Minor catastrophe of 1922 to the decade beginning in 2010. Starting with the fate of the prisoners of 1922, the author, professor of international law and foreign relations at Pantheon University in Athens, goes on to analyse the Conference and Treaty of Lausanne, the period of Greco-Turkish rapprochement between the two world wars, the Cypriot problem from 1955 until after rejection of the Annan Plan, not to mention the controversy about the continental plate in the Aegean Sea and tensions surrounding airspace. Angelos Syrigos, who is also a researcher at Cambridge University's International Law Research Centre, looks at the legal status and problems still facing the Muslim minority in Thrace and the Greek minority in Turkey, not forgetting the question of the Ecumenical Patriarchy. He elaborates on current issues like the gas deposits in Cyprus, petrochemical pipelines, the exclusive economic zone and island of Kastelorizo in the southern Aegean Sea. All aspects that the author does not simply review, but which he analyses in detail, along with the concerns they may generate, with the aim of formulating proposals to consolidate Greece's foreign policy towards Turkey.
(AKa)