Politics

Abstract

The clearest contrast between the two Germanies is that between their respective political systems. It is here too that debates between different theoretical positions have perhaps the starkest political overtones. Characterisation has often involved a high degree of evaluation. For some analysts, there was a temptation to seek an all-encompassing concept (democracy, dictatorship) which was deemed, by labelling the whole of a system, to explain all its features. Others, however, have felt that such attempts served to obscure more than explain.