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Abstract
Unification triggered profound changes in the geographical, generational and global context that had shaped restrictive German policies regarding citizenship, immigration, asylum and refugees for 40 years. Since 2015 Chancellor Angela Merkel has been praised as well as denounced for her bold decision to open her country to an extraordinary influx of refugees from Northern Africa and the Middle East. Efforts to transform Germany into a ‘welcoming culture’ are rooted in internally motivated demographic changes stemming from the 1990s, but the process has been accelerated due to external pressures from the European Union. This essay argues that Merkel’s attempt to turn the nation united into a land of immigration and integration derives from her experiences as a former GDR citizen, amounting to a major policy break with her erstwhile patron, Helmut Kohl. In order to make the case for the female leader’s direct impact on such policies, one needs to review FRG asylum policies prior to unification, as well as post-unity SPD-Green reforms preceding her first term in office. Addressing the impact of external versus internal forces for change requires a treatment of key EU developments, and domestic reforms adopted after unification but prior to the 2015 refugee crisis. While a degree of back-tracking has occurred since 2016, Germany’s first woman chancellor has managed to stay the course by leveraging top-down, bottom-up, supranational and domestic reform currents, even in the face of ostensible opposition within her own party. This case confirms that studying unification’s impact on policy changes cannot be confined to a single decade.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joyce Marie Mushaben is the CAS Professor for Global Studies and the Curators’ Distinguished Professor for Comparative Politics & Gender Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She has published extensively on East and West German identities, EU gender politics, citizenship, migration and integration policies, inter alia. Her latest book is Becoming Madam Chancellor: Angela Merkel and the Berlin Republic (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Notes
1 Erich Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991 (London: Pelham Books, 1994), p.51; Rainer Münz and Rainer Ohliger, ‘Long Distance Citizens. Ethnic Germans and Their Immigration to Germany’, in Peter Schuck and Rainer Münz (eds), Paths to Inclusion. The Integration of Migrants in the United States and Germany (Providence/Oxford: Berghahn, 1998), p.160ff.
2 Münz and Ohliger, ‘Long Distance Citizens’, p.160.
3 Hannelore Oberpenning, ‘Zuwanderung und Eingliederung von Flüchtlingen, Vertriebenen und Aussiedlern im lokalen Kontext – das Beispiel Espelkamp’, in Klaus J. Bade and Jochen Oltmer (eds), Aussiedler: deutsche Einwanderer aus Osteuropa (Osnabrück: Universitätsverlag Rasch, 1999), p.289.
4 Joyce Marie Mushaben, The Changing Faces of Citizenship. Integration and Mobilization among Ethnic Minorities in Germany (New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2008), p.48.
5 Joyce Marie Mushaben, From Post-War to Post-Wall Generations: Changing Attitudes towards the National Question and NATO in the Federal Republic of Germany (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998).
6 Mushaben, The Changing Faces of Citizenship, p.14ff.
7 Mirijam Beutke and Patrick Kotzur, Faktensammlung Diskriminierung: Programm Integration und Bildung (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 12 Jan. 2015), available from https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/Projekte/28_Einwanderung_und_Vielfalt/Faktensammlung_Diskriminierung_BSt_2015.pdf (accessed 10 July 2015).
8 Mushaben, The Changing Faces of Citizenship, p.132ff.
9 Klaus Bade, ‘Migration und Asyl im geteilten und vereinigten Deutschland’, Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik 1 (2001), pp.235–6.
10 Susanne Höll, ‘Das Unwort “Asylant” wird gesellschaftsfähig’, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 7 Oct. 1991; Beate Winkler (ed.), Was heisst denn hier fremd? Thema Ausländerfeindlichkeit: Macht und Verantwortung der Medien (Munich: Humboldt, 1994).
11 Höll, ‘Das Unwort’.
12 Hans-Peter Schwarz, Konrad Adenauer: A German Politician and Statesman in a Period of War, Revolution and Reconstruction: From the German Empire to the Federal Republic, 1876–1952, Vol.1 (New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1995); Barbara Marshall, Willy Brandt: A Political Biography (New York: St. Marten’s Press, 1997); Henning Köhler, Helmut Kohl: Ein Leben für die Politik. Die Biografie (Köln: Bastei Lübbe, 2014).
13 Karl-Rudolf Korte, ‘Solutions for the Decision Dilemma: Political Styles of Germany’s Chancellors’, German Politics 9/1 (2000), pp.1–22; Katje Glaesner, ‘Angela Merkel – mit “Soft Skills” zum Erfolg?’, Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 50 (2009), pp.28–34.
14 Brad K. Blitz, Balkan Returns: An Overview of Refugee Returns and Minority Repatriation (Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace, 30 Dec. 1999).
15 BAMF website, available from http://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/DE/Downloads/Infothek/Statistik/Asyl/201601-statistik-anlage-asyl-geschaeftsbericht.pdf?__blob=publicationFile (accessed 10 July 2015), p.7.
16 Bundesamt fur Migration und Flüchtlinge, Aktuelle Zahlen zu Asyl, Jan. 2016, p.3.
17 Ibid.
18 BAMF website.
19 See BVerfG Beschluss der 1. Kammer des Zweiten Senats vom 10 Aug. 2000, 2 BvR 1353/98 – RN. (1–23), available from http://beverfg.de/e/rk20000810_2bvr026098.html (accessed 10 July 2015).
20 Marie Louise Beck (ed.), Bericht zur Lage der Ausländer (Berlin: Federal Government, 23 Aug. 2002), p.134 ff.; Migrationsbericht der Ausländerbeauftragten im Auftrag der Bundesregierung 2003 (Berlin: : Federal Government), p.37 ff.
21 Bade, ‘Migration und Asyl’, p.236.
22 Ibid., p.43.
23 ‘Flüchtlinge in Deutschland: Leben in Containern’, Deutschlandfunk, 11 Oct. 2014.
24 Mushaben, The Changing Faces of Citizenship, p.129.
25 Dietrich Thränhardt, Die Arbeitsmigration von Flüchtlingen in Deutschland: Hunmanität, Effektivität, Selbstbestimmung (Bertelsmann, May 2015), available from https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/Projekte/28_Einwanderung_und_Vielfalt/Studie_IB_Die_Arbeitsintegration_von_Fluechtlingen_in_Deutschland_2015.pdf (accessed 10 July 2015), p.13.
26 ‘ASYL: Grüne Algenpolster’, Der Spiegel, 1 April 1985.
27 Mushaben, From Post-War to Post-Wall Generations, pp.329–33.
28 Joan Fitzpatrick, ‘Temporary Protection of Refugees: Elements of a Formalized Regime’, American Journal of International Law 94/2 (2000), pp.279–306; Peter Kühne, Zur Lage der Flüchtlinge in Deutschland (Bonn: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Sept. 2001).
29 See BVerfG, Urteil des Ersten Senats vom 18. Juli 2012, 1 BvL 10/10 ‒ Rn. (1–140).
30 Steffen Angenendt, ‘Germany’, in Steffen Angenendt (ed.), Asylum and Migration Policies in the European Union (Bonn: Europa Union Verlag, 1999), p.181; Mushaben, From Post-War to Post-Wall Generations, pp.321–2.
31 Ibid., p.189.
32 Data from the Bundesamt für die Anerkennung ausländischer Flüchtlinge.
33 Migrationsbericht der Ausländerbeauftragten 2001 (Berlin), p.50.
34 Independent Commission, Structuring Immigration, Fostering Integration (Berlin, 2000), p.125.
35 Linguistically speaking, Zuwanderung (migrating to) includes many forms of temporary migration, while Einwanderung (moving into) sooner invokes immigration as intentional, permanent resettlement.
36 Only the supranational pillar (e.g. single market, employment, agriculture/fisheries, gender and environmental regulation) requires automatic compliance by all member states; actions relating to Common Foreign and Security Policy or Justice and Home Affairs only obligate self-committing member states. The Lisbon Treaty ended the pillar structure, but hard versus soft law and supranational versus OMC rules still apply.
37 Angenendt (ed.), Asylum and Migration Policies in the European Union; Bernd Marschang, ‘Misstrauen, Abschottung, Eigensinn ‒ Entwicklung der europäischen Asylrechts – Harmonisierung bis zum Amsterdamer Vertrag’, Kritische Justiz 31/1 (1998), pp.69–83.
38 See ‘An EU “Safe Countries of Origin” List’, available from http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/european-agenda-migration/background-information/docs/2_eu_safe_countries_of_origin_en.pdf (accessed 10 July 2015).
39 An Algerian woman committed suicide there after eight months in the ‘transit zone’; officials blamed the victim for her own death, claiming she had hindered processing by destroying her papers. ‘Bundesgrenzschutz handelte unrechtmässig: Schutzsuchender Algerier ohne Asylprüfung nach Dubai zuruckgewiesen’, Pro ASYL Press Release, 18 Dec. 2003; ‘Neue Asylunterkunft auf dem Rhein-Main Flughafen still und leise in Betrieb gegangen’, Pro ASYL Press Release, 30 May 2002.
40 Nazare Albuquerque Abell, ‘Safe Country Provisions in Canada and in the European Union: A Critical Assessment’, International Migration Review 31/3 (Fall 1997), p.588. Canada was the first to recognise gender-specific grounds for asylum though it has bowed to EU pressures to recognise ‘safe country, exclusion, and first host country’ concepts á la Schengen.
41 European Commission, ‘Policy Plan on Asylum: An Integrated Approach to Protection Across the EU’ [COM (2008) 360 final], Brussels, 17 June 2008.
42 Constantin Hruschka, ‘The (Reformed) Dublin III Regulations – A Tool for Enhanced Effectiveness and Higher Standards of Protection?’, ERA Forum 15 (2014), pp.469–83.
43 For links to Germany’s ‘Conclusions’, see http://www.eu2007.de/de/ (accessed 10 July 2015).
44 Eric Leise, ‘Germany to Regularize “Tolerated” Asylum Seekers’, Migration Information Source, 5 April 2007.
45 10. Bericht der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Migration, Flüchtlinge und Integration über die Lage der Ausländerinnen und Ausländer in Deutschland (Oct. 2014).
46 For details, see Joyce Marie Mushaben, Becoming Madam Chancellor: Angela Merkel and the Berlin Republic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), Chapter 7.
47 BAMF, Runder Tisch Aufnahmegesellschaft (Berlin, 2013).
48 Interview, 20 July 2015, Interior Ministry website, available from http://www.bmi.bund.de/DE/Themen/Migration-Integration/Asyl-Fluechtlingsschutz/Humanitaere-aufnahmeprogramme/humanitaere-aufnahmeprogramme_node.html (accessed 26 Feb. 2016).
49 ‘Merkel warnt vor erheblichen Spannungen in der EU’, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 25 June 2015.
50 Eurostat news release, March 2015, available from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_quarterly_report (accessed 10 July 2015).
51 United Nations Human Rights Commission, ‘The Sea Route to Europe: Mediterranean Passage in the Age of Refugees’, pp.3, 11; Sachverständigenrat deutscher Stiftungen für Integration und Migrations, ‘Krise der europäischen Asylpolitik: Kollektive Aufnahmeverfahren mit fairen Quoten einrichten’ (Kurz-info SVR Forschungsbereichs 2015-1).
52 Sommer-Pressekonferenz der Kanzlerin zu aktuellen Themen, 31 Aug. 2015, available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eXc5Sc_rnY (accessed 10 July 2015); see further, ‘Angela Merkel: Im Auge des Orkans’, Die Zeit, available from http://www.zeit.de/2015/38/angela-merkel-fluechtlinge-krisenkanzlerin/komplettansicht? (accessed 10 July 2015).
53 Press conference, 7 Sept. 2015, available from https://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/DE/Mitschrift/Pressekonferenzen/2015/09/2015-09-07-merkel-gabriel.html (accessed 10 July 2015).
54 ‘Flüchtlingskrise: Kabinett beschließt neues Asylgesetz’, Der Spiegel, 29 Sept. 2015.
55 Tina Hildebrandt and Bernd Ulrich, ‘Im Auge des Orkans’, Die Zeit, 20 Sept. 2015.
56 Florian Gathmann and Kevin Hagen, ‘Was jetzt gilt – und was noch kommt’, Der Spiegel, 12 Jan. 2015.
57 Joyce Marie Mushaben, ‘The Sad Truth highlighted by Germany [sic] Assaults’, available from http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/11/opinions/mushaben-cologne-attacks (12 Jan. 2016).
58 ‘Flüchtlingskrise: Was steht im Asylpaket II?’, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 29 Jan. 2016.
59 Katharina Schüler, ‘Asylpaket II: Viel Härte, wenig Wirkung’, Die Zeit online, 25 Feb. 2016.
60 ‘Entscheidung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts: Asylbewerber müssen ab sofort mehr Geld bekommen’, Der Spiegel, 18 July 2012.
61 David Patton, ‘Monday, Monday: Eastern Protest Movements and German Party Politics since 1989’ German Politics (this issue).
62 ‘Merkel lehnt Gabriels Forderung nach Solipakt für Deutsche ab’, Der Spiegel, 26 Feb. 2016.
63 Mushaben, Becoming Madam Chancellor.
64 See the special issue on Gender and Governance: The Case of Angela Merkel, edited by Louise Davidson-Schmich, German Politics 20/3 (2011).
65 Summer press conference, 31 Aug. 2015.
66 Markus Feldenkirchen and René Pfister, ‘The Isolated Chancellor: What Is Driving Angela Merkel?’, Der Spiegel, 25 Jan. 2016.