The Code of Protest. Images of Peace in the West German Peace Movements, 1945-1990

The article examines posters produced by the peace movements in the Federal Republic of Germany during the ColdWar, with an analytical focus on the transformation of the iconography of peace in modernity. Was it possible to develop an independent, positive depiction of peace in the context of protests for peace and disarmament? Despite its name, the pictorial selfrepresentation of the campaign ‘Fight against Nuclear Death’ in the late 1950s did not draw on the theme of pending nuclear mass death. The large-scale protest movement in the 1980s against NATO’s 1979 ‘double-track’ decision contrasted female peacefulness with masculine aggression in an emotionally charged pictorial symbolism. At the same time this symbolism marked a break with the pacifist iconographic tradition that had focused on the victims of war. Instead, the movement presented itself with images of demonstrating crowds, as an anticipation of its peaceful ends. Drawing on the concept of asymmetrical communicative ‘codes’ that has been developed in sociological systems theory, the article argues that the iconography of peace in peace movement posters could not develop a genuinely positive vision of peace, since the code of protest can articulate the designation value ‘peace’ only in conjunction with the rejection value ‘war’

Welche Macht darf es denn Sein? Tracing ‘Power’ in German Foreign Policy Discourse

The relationship between ‘Germany’ and ‘power’ remains a sensitive issue. While observers tend to agree that Germany has regained the status of the most powerful country in Europe, there is debate whether that is to be welcomed or whether that is a problem. Underpinning this debate are views, both within Germany and amongst its neighbours, regarding the kind of power Germany has, or should (not) have. Against this backdrop, the article reviews the dominant role conceptions used in the expert discourse on German foreign policy since the Cold War that depict Germany as a particular type of ‘power’. Specifically, we sketch the evolution of three prominent conceptions (constrained power, civilian power, hegemonic power) and the recent emergence of a new one (shaping power). The article discusses how these labels have emerged to give meaning to Germany’s position in international relations, points to their normative and political function, and to the limited ability of such role images to tell us much about how Germany actually exercises power

Militär humanitär? Deutsche Außenpolitik zwischen Krieg und Frieden. Diskussion mit Karl Lamers, Herfried Münkler, Hans-Christian Ströbele

Textdokumentation zur Veranstaltung der Osnabrücker Friedensgespräche am 14. Mai 200

Architecture and Kinematics of the Constance-Frick Trough (Northern Switzerland): Implications for the Formation of Post-Variscan Basins in the Foreland of the Alps and Scenarios of Their Neogene Reactivation

Post‐Variscan basins are commonly inferred to represent important precursor structures of later extensional and contractional tectonic events in the foreland of the European Alps. Nevertheless, their structural characteristics are typically poorly constrained. Our investigation sheds new light on the architecture and kinematics of the Constance‐Frick Trough (CFT) in Northern Switzerland. According to our analysis of an extensive and revised 2‐D reflection seismic data set, the ENE‐WSW striking CFT is divided into an eastern segment and a western segment characterized by opposing half‐graben geometries. The transition between the two segments coincides with the prolongation of a preexisting WNW‐ESE trending strike‐slip fault zone exposed in the adjacent Black Forest Massif to the north. Field‐based analysis of outcrop‐scale faults in the latter area implies that the minimum horizontal stress during the formation of the CFT was roughly oriented NE‐SW, which is oblique to the trough axis. While previously published analogue models imply that some characteristics of the CFT could be explained by lateral linkage of graben segments under oblique extension, the pronounced half‐graben geometry of the CFT suggests that low‐angle normal faulting may also have contributed to trough formation. The observed structural complexities of the CFT and uncertainties regarding its deep structure must be taken into account for interpretations of similar Late Paleozoic basins inferred in the subsurface of the northern Alpine foreland basin, in particular, concerning scenarios of their Neogene reactivation during Alpine orogeny