Wotan, my enemy - Can Britain live with the Germans in the European Union?

Underneath all of the agonizing in the UK over entry into the European Community is the unease with its relationship with Germany - there exists a profound distrust and fear of Germany. After 2 world wars precipitated by Germany and after the German descent into barbarism in this century, large swat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEuropean business review Vol. 94; no. 4; p. VIII
Main Author Abse, Leo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bradford Emerald Group Publishing Limited 01.07.1994
Subjects
Aggressiveness
Anxiety
Christianity
Culture
EC single market
History
International relations
Nazi groups
Pacifism
War
United Kingdom > UK
Germany
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Summary:Underneath all of the agonizing in the UK over entry into the European Community is the unease with its relationship with Germany - there exists a profound distrust and fear of Germany. After 2 world wars precipitated by Germany and after the German descent into barbarism in this century, large swathes of British opinion look with suspicion at a country with a democracy perceived as parvenu and fragile and possessed of the largest population and the greatest economic power in the European Union. Its domination is feared. That extraordinary and menacing German phenomenon - Angst - can be a threat to the Germans themselves and potentially to all Europeans. Angst is a sickness that presents iself in a peculiar tension, in a singular inner agitation, and it pervades German culture. To hope that Germany should be rid of this burden is not an unselfish aspiration. It bodes ill for the future of the European Community if Britain's most significant partner is riddled with anxiety.
ISSN:0955-534X
1758-7107