Anne Lopes, Holger Henke, and Roger Wasserman (eds.)

The United States and Germany share a long history. One significant impact of the relationship is the formation of path-breaking political and philosophical ideas that have opened up unexpected areas of inquiry and activism.

This volume explores the "intellectual relations" between the two countries. The flow of political and philosophical ideas from Germany to the United States distinguishes the relationship until the first half of the 20th century. Thus, the first victory for freedom of the press in America occurred in 1735 when a jury found John Peter Zenger, a German-American printer and journalist, justified in criticizing the colonial government. Through their participation in politics and military service, and by expressing - in the words of Gustav Körner, the first successful national German-American politician - a preference for "our broadly based freedom over the meager continuation of an old way of life on foreign soil," German-American immigrants contributed to the emerging U.S. political culture. Later in the 19th century, important Americans such as W.E.B. DuBois pursued studies in Germany. In the 20th century Americans of German descent, such as Hoover, Eisenhower and Kissinger, rose to prominent positions in the U.S. political establishment and influenced the course of the nation with their ideas.

German émigrés who came to the United States in the 1930s and 1940s contributed to a lively debate about the fate of liberal democracy in the United States in the wake of World War II. Ernst Fraenkel, for example, published _The Dual State_ (1941) in which he analyzed the political system of the Nazi state. Herbert Marcuse wrote _Eros and Civilization_ (1955) and _One-Dimensional Man_ (1964), fundamental critiques of capitalism, which profoundly influenced the student movement in the 1960s. Less well known socialists and anarchists (e.g., Paul Mattick) came after the German Revolution and also brought ideas with them.

During the Cold War, Germany continued to command the attention of U.S. intellectuals and the general public. While West Germany remained an important frontline ally of the United States, East Germany was perceived as the most immediate communist threat in Europe. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, however, Germany began to recede from the U.S.'s view. Once a key ally and strategic partner of the United States it has been derogatorily described by US leaders as the most prominent part of the "old Europe" (Donald Rumsfeld). Parallel to this development, German political discourses and partnerships are now widely regarded as less consequential than they were a generation ago. Only relatively few American intellectuals (e.g. Anthony Appiah, Seyla Benhabib, Nancy Fraser, Jeremy Rifkin, Iris Marion Young) find it worthwhile to engage social theory and public policy models prevalent in Germany. Apart from strategic and military questions, sharply different views on the nature of capitalism and social arrangements within it are particularly evident in current transatlantic intellectual discourses.

This volume will take a critical look at the intellectual relations between Germany and the United States since 1950. In particular, the volume will focus on the changing perception of German intellectual work and political philosophy in the United States. The editors intend to take stock of how the mutual perceptions of political and philosophical thought relate to important issues of global, national and public policy in the United States and Germany.

Proposals from established scholars and advanced doctoral candidates in the fields of political science, (political) philosophy, history, social theory, American Studies, and related fields, are welcome and will be considered, if submitted by or before August 20, 2006

Interested authors should contact the editors: hhenke@metropolitan.edu, alopes@metropolitan.edu, and/or rwasserman@metropolitan.edu.

Editors: