The contributors of this volume seek to answer such questions as: 'How did the Germans overcome 'Germanic Ideology', or did they?' 'Why is there no libertarianism in Germany?' 'What do German conservatives wish to conserve?'. Emphasizing shared patterns of thought, the contributors trace the contours of political thought in a divided nation with a difficult past, and ion the shadow of the culture and political values of the United States.

Introduction: Putting German Political Thought in Context; J.W.Müller PART 1: THE TRANSFORMATION OF GERMAN POLITICAL THOUGHT IN THE POST-WAR PERIOD Restoring the German Spirit: Humanism and Guilt in Post-War Germany; A.Rabinbach Normative Westernization?: The Impact of Remigres on the Formation of Political Thought in Post-War Germany; A.Söllner Habermas's Reconstruction of West German Law and the Sozialstaat Controversy; J.P.McCormick The Westernization of the Political Thought of the West German Labour Movement; J.Angster PART 2: CRITICAL THEORY AND THE LEGACIES OF 1968 Post-War Ideologies and the Body Politics of 1968; D.Herzog 1968 as Event, Milieu and Ideology; J.W.Müller PART 3: GERMAN CONSERVATISM: FROM TECHNOCRATIC CONSERVATISM TO THE NEW RIGHT From the Conservative Revolution to Technocratic Conservatism; D.van Laak German Neo-Conservatism, c.1968 to 1985: Hermann Lübbe and Others; J.Muller From National Identity to National Interest: The Rise (and Fall) of Germany's New Right; J.W.Müller PART 4: GERMAN REPUBLICANISM AND THE POLITICS OF RECOGNITION A Tolerant Republic; R.Forst The Many Faces of the Republic; W.A.Barbieri