Democracy imposed : U.S. occupation policy and the German public, 1945-1949
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Democracy imposed : U.S. occupation policy and the German public, 1945-1949
Yale University Press, c1995
Available at 15 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 413-436) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Instead of studying what German political leaders and intellectuals thought about the US occupation, this text explores the response of the ordinary German people, analyzing data from public opinion surveys conducted largely by the American Military Government beginning in 1945. It poses questions such as "How successful was the United States in attempting to impose a democratic system on Germany after World War II?", and "Did US occupation policy actually change German society and attitudes?". Much has been written about the feasibility of externally directed programs to foster economic change in industrial nations or change in general in Third World countries. This book also assesses the actual impact of efforts to impose social change on a highly advanced foreign country. Merritt finds that ordinary Germans were actually more receptive to American reforms than were the German elites, and that imposing social change on a foreign people is difficult but not impossible if the population generally acknowledges the need for change.
The book thus offers insights into the possible success of foreign intervention to effect social change in highly developed countries, an issue of increasing relevance with the emergence of extreme right-wing groups in Germany and elsewhere in modern times.
by "Nielsen BookData"