Germany, Europe and the Euro crisis: economy, state and society in the past and present

• Main Author: Mauer, Gerald M., III
• Other Authors: Abenheim, Donald
• Published: Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School 2014
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/38974

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. === This thesis examines Germanys role at the center of the European Monetary Union (EMU). It explores German socio-economic policies and experiences in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of why the EMU operates with German influence as well as in opposition to it. Historically, Germanys economic experience, from the Weimar Republic to 2013, has been uniquely shaped by its population and the embeddedness of its market place. From this experience, Germany has erected certain elements of government protection forged by a century of civil protection. These experiences also shape Germanys place in the Euro area as well as its policies toward the European economic crisis from 2007 through 2013. As of 2013, most Euro area members consider Germany as the economic backbone to the union, but rarely internalize Germanys economic past. Therefore, an application of the development of the German social market bears considerable importance upon the future of the Euro area as well as the policies enacted within the union, which Germany seeks to shape.