The Baker Institute is honored to bring together leading diplomats, political scientists, economists and historians to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a watershed in European and world history. When the wall fell, policymakers faced the unprecedented challenge of establishing the foundation for a unified, stable and prosperous Germany within a peaceful Europe. This academic conference will examine the economic and political consequences of the sometimes-treacherous path to German unification.
The day before, the institute will host a historic panel discussion with six foreign ministers who navigated the sometimes-treacherous path to German unification. For more information, please see the event page for "German Unification: Expectations and Outcomes (Panel Discussion)."
Event Agenda
8:00 am Coffee and Breakfast
8:30 am Welcome
8:45 am Panel 1: The Foreign Policy of Unification
Philip Zelikow, Ph.D.
White Burkett Miller Professor of History, University of Virginia; Diplomat and Member of the National Security Council, 1989-90; Co-author with Condoleezza Rice of "Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft"
9:30 am Executive Summary
"Between Euroland and Abendland? Opportunities and Challenges for German Foreign Policy"
Mary N. Hampton, Ph.D.
Professor of National Security Studies, Air Command and Staff College
"German Unification, Western Order and the Post-Cold War Restructuring of the International System"
John Ikenberry, Ph.D.
Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
9:50 am Coffee Break
10:15 am Commentary and Discussion
Joe Barnes
Bonner Means Baker Fellow, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
11:15 am Lunch
Marianne Birthler
Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Agency of the German
Democratic Republic
Panel 2: The Political Economy of Unification
1:45 pm Executive Summary
"Reconsidering Reunification: German Monetary Union and Its European Consequences"
Jonathan Zatlin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, Boston University
TBA
Irwin Collier, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, Free University Berlin
2:15 pm Commentary and Discussion
Wolfgang Seibel, Ph.D.
Professor of Politics and Public Administration, University of Constance
3:00 pm Coffee Break
3:30 pm Panel 3: Political Institutions
Political Institutions
Ulrich K. Preuss
Professor of Law and Politics, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin; Adviser to the German Round Table, 1980-90; Author of "Constitutional Revolution: The Link Between Constitutionalism and Progress"
4:15 pm Executive Summary
"German Unification and the Federal Constitutional Court"
Peter E. Quint
Jacob A. France Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Maryland School of Law
"Dynamics of Public Opinion During the Campaign"
Robert Rohrschneider, Ph.D.
Sir Robert Worcester Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Kansas
4:35 pm Commentary and Discussion
Jeff Anderson, Ph.D.
Graf Goltz Professor of Political Science, Georgetown University
To view the entire conference, please click below: