Holding Out for a Hero: Gustav Stresemann Survives

But Faeelin is right in that archenemies can become close friends. What I found most astonishing is the German-French rapprochement after WW2. Although many academics cite common interests in power and economics as foundation of th Elysee-treaty this is only true for the political level. but there was also a profound new understanding of each others people on a most common level. My mother always tells me the story how she was driving with her father and her mother over to France during the Elysee talks. The heavily armed soldier at the border crossing saw their German passports and then smiled and said: "Deutsch? Das geht gut!" - "German? That'll work out well!" And he waved them just through. Of course, this was almost a generation after WW2 but it still shows a totally different approach to one another. I attribute much to the other French-German projects which were introduced and firthered by politicians. There was the possibility to learn French as a second language or third language at school, many town partnerships and student exchanges.

Although it may have its unique preconditions it is tsill a good example how two states who after a rather long period of intense hatred came again together.

Kind regards,
G.
 
Although it may have its unique preconditions it is tsill a good example how two states who after a rather long period of intense hatred came again together.
.

It's not just ethnic conflicts where this happens. Look at Spain today, and compare it to the last days of Franco's regime. Or Argentina, or Chile. Nations don't always get worse, even if they don't always get better.
 
The next piece will be on jazz in Germany and Central Europe, since someone asked me to talk more about Germany. (I don't think this is what they had it mean, but really it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing).

Jazz? That is brilliant. Are we actually going to see the effect of the Swingjugend counterculture? Hamburg as the Jazz capital of Europe, St.Pauli as something more than a red light district and Kutte Widmann. Looking forwards too that.
 
I don't see why Belgium is a failure as a state. It's still around, and if it breaks up it will be through peaceful measures where each part still remains part of the same economic unit with the same currency and freedom of movement across borders. Yugoslavia it ain't.

I would even argue Czechoslovakia's breakup was fairly "successful", in that unlike Yugoslavia it didn't result in ethnic cleansing and tens of thousands dead.

Point taken, and i could argue that the slovak stat and the german issue could be viewed as partial failure, it really depends on how one defines a failed stat.
Spain could held as an example as well, not as diverse as Yugoslavian but still.

The issue is more i believe if the new Yugoslavia can survive a crisis without sectarian violence blooming. The best would be no crisis.

That said, there is always the possibly that a clever bastard read enough about structural oppression to try engineer via social manipulation a from of structural oppression, framed and guarded by the virtues of the democratic federal state.
The 30`s and 40`s seems the right period for this after all. Mega engineering meets sociology.

Or it might just be really silly.

I'm not sure Muslim Filipinos are a valid example. The US never really tried to settle or even incorporate the Philippines. America's efforts there are really just another colonial war, like the way the Hereros were treated.

No they did not, but settlement isn't required to qualify as ethnic cleansing. Removal is enough. But is not a major point of contention.
 
That said, there is always the possibly that a clever bastard read enough about structural oppression to try engineer via social manipulation a from of structural oppression, framed and guarded by the virtues of the democratic federal state.

Structural in what sense?

You mean "Democracy, within the constraints the state imposes?" I think that's certainly plausible, and fits the period OTL and ATL. I guess... guided democracies?
 
Structural in what sense?

You mean "Democracy, within the constraints the state imposes?" I think that's certainly plausible, and fits the period OTL and ATL. I guess... guided democracies?

Structural oppression is a complex theory. I kind of assumed you were familiar whit the concept. The idea is that social structures makes the individual internalize the oppression, so that the oppress themselves and also become the oppressors. This is post modern sociology, third wave feminism gender studies, Foucault, Bourdieu type stuff.

Basically what i envision is a Guided democracy were manipulations of the social structures leads to self-policing by the populace as opposed to brutal displays of authority from the Monarchical period. That make any sens?
 
Well, Faeelin is going through law school, maybe even finishing, I don't know. At least we knew a possible reason why he didn't seem like a good cat in recent times. He will just have had to catch other mice than ours.
 
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