Werner Abelshauser

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Werner Abelshauser (born November 24, 1944 in Wiesloch ) is a German economic historian .

Life

Abelshauser studied economics at the University of Mannheim from 1966 to 1970 and received his doctorate in 1973 from the Ruhr University Bochum with a thesis on "Economics in West Germany 1945-1948". After his habilitation (1980) he taught as a professor of economic and social history at the University of Bochum, where he was also the managing director of the Institute for Research on the European Labor Movement (IGA) from 1983 to 1988 . In addition, he took on visiting professorships in Bielefeld , Oxford , Göttingen , Florence , Cologne , St. Louis and Sydneytrue. From 1989 to 1991 he held the Chair of 20th Century European History at the European University Institute in Florence. Since 1991 he has headed the chair for economic and social history at Bielefeld University . Since 2010 he has been a research professor for historical social science. He co-founded the Bielefeld Institute for Global Society Studies and is one of the editors of the Journal for Political and European Studies . The Federal Ministry of Economics appointed an independent history commission on November 1, 2011; Abelshauser is one of five members of this commission. He is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Roman Herzog Institute and is a member of the board of trustees of the Hans Böckler Foundation.

research

Abelshauser's dissertation (1975) was the first theory-based and source-based investigation into the causes of the “ economic miracle ”. Their results relativize the importance of the Marshall Plan , currency reform and social market economy as triggering forces for the resurgence of the West German economy. More important for him were the special reconstruction conditions that were no longer reproducible at the end of the “long fifties”. Many of Abelshauser's theses were initially highly controversial. In 1985 Arnulf Baring described his theory in the FAZ as a “questionable thesis”. Today his "German Economic History since 1945" (1983) is one of the standard works of German economic history. The time judged: "Abelshauser has rewritten the economic history of the Federal Republic." The German way of economic policy as a regulatory policy of the visible hand is the subject of a recent work on the history of the Federal Ministry of Economics, which he accompanied as editor and author.

A second research area of ​​Abelshauser is historical corporate research. His work on the history of BASF (2002/2004/2007) and the history of the Krupp Group in the Third Reich (2002) belong to "the core of a German 'New Business History'" ( Hans-Ulrich Wehler ) and have helped this discipline to flourish contributed. The focus of these investigations is a clearly defined and historically evolved corporate culture in its economic functions , which Abelshauser also attaches great importance to for current entrepreneurial decisions.

A third research focus, which Abelshauser has been pursuing since the 1980s, is the reassessment of the mode of production in the German economy since the late 19th century. Globalization and scientification would have created the "new economy" even then, the hallmark of which, after the material one, is "immaterial production". He sees the German Empire as a “greenhouse of the institutions” that still form the framework of the German economy today. His book about the "Kulturkampf" (2003/2005/2009) between the German / European variety of capitalism ( Rhenish capitalism ) and American "standard capitalism " earned him the reputation of an "advocate of the German model" in journalism. This position and the ability to analyze current problems from a long-term perspective, which is rare among economic researchers, make him a sought-after expert on the economic crisis for the media.

In recent times Abelshauser has also turned to biographical research. As in the biography of Hans Matthöfers (2009), he is concerned with the historical dimension of current economic problems. He wants to find out how and under what conditions human ways of thinking and acting change and thereby create new economic, political and social rules. The focus is on the concept of "historically accredited ways of thinking and acting", which people fall back on when they are prompted by external events to review their thinking and behavior and, if necessary, to change them. With his biographical approach, Abelshauser adds a new set of instruments to the range of methods offered by institutional economics .

Works

  • Economy in West Germany 1945–1948. Reconstruction and growing conditions in the American and British zones. (= Series of the quarterly books for contemporary history . Volume 30). DVA, Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-421-01714-X (Dissertation University of Bochum, 1973)
  • Ruhr coal mining since 1945. Reconstruction, crisis, adaptation . Beck, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-406-30308-0 .
  • Economy and armaments in the fifties. ( Beginnings of West German Security Policy 1945–1956. Volume 4/1, edited by Military History Research Office ), Oldenbourg Verlag , Munich 1997. (Reprint 2001, ISBN 3-486-50882-2 )
  • as publisher: The BASF - A company history. CH Beck Verlag, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-49526-5 . (US edition: German Industry and Global Enterprise. BASF: The History of a Company. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York 2004, ISBN 0-521-82726-4 )
  • Armourers of the nation? The Krupp concern in the Third Reich and in the post-war period 1933–1951. In: L. Gall (Ed.): Krupp in the 20th century. The history of the company from the First World War to the establishment of the foundation. Siedler Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-88680-742-8 .
  • with Jan-Otmar Hesse and Werner Plumpe: Economic order, state and companies: new research on the economic history of National Socialism; Festschrift for Dietmar Petzina on her 65th birthday . Essen 2003, ISBN 3-89861-259-7 .
  • Kulturkampf: The German Way into the New Economy and the American Challenge. Kulturverlag Kadmos, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-931659-51-8 . (US edition: The Dynamics of German Industry. Germany's Path toward the New Economy and the American Challenge. Berghahnbooks, New York / Oxford 2005, ISBN 1-84545-072-8 ; Japanese edition: Keizaibunka no tousou, 3 ., expanded edition. of 'Kulturkampf', University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo 2009, ISBN 978-4-13-040246-0 )
  • German economic history from 1945 to the present. 2nd completely revised, updated and expanded edition. CH Beck Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-51094-6 . (Japanese edition: "Gendai Doitsu Keizairon", Asahi Shuppansha, Tokyo 1994, ISBN 4-255-94003-7 . Special edition: Series of publications by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, 460, Bonn 2005, 2006, 2007, ISBN 978-3- 89331-571-0 ).
  • Europe's fate: economy or politics? The coal and steel union as a lesson in European integration (= writings of the Ruhrgebiet library foundation. 24). Bochum 2008, ISBN 978-3-8375-0022-6 .
  • The Emperor's New Clothes? Changes in the social market economy (= Roman Herzog Institute, position 7 (PDF file; 246 kB)). Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-941036-06-2 .
  • After the economic miracle. The trade unionist, politician and entrepreneur Hans Matthöfer. Dietz, Bonn 2009, ISBN 978-3-8012-4171-1 .
  • Ruhr coal and politics. Ernst Brandi 1875–1937. A biography. Klartext, Essen 2009, ISBN 978-3-8375-0203-9 .
  • with David A. Gilgen and Andreas Leutzsch: Cultures of the world economy (= history and society. Special issue. 24). Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-525-36424-6 .
  • with Stefan Fisch, Dierk Hoffmann, Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich and Albrecht Ritschl: Economic Policy in Germany 1917–1990. 4 volumes. Verlag de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston, MA 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-046281-4 .
  • The Federal Ministry of Economics in the era of the social market economy. The German way of economic policy (= economic policy in Germany 1917–1990. Volume 4). Verlag de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-046281-4 .

literature

  • Wolfgang Zank: The historian Werner Abelshauser. In: Nikolaus Piper (ed.): The new economists. Stars thought leaders and makers of German-speaking economics. Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, pp. 164-173.
  • David Gilgen, Christopher Kopper , Andreas Leutzsch (eds.): Germany as a model? Rhenish capitalism and globalization since the 19th century. Dietz Verlag, Bonn 2010. (Festschrift)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ bmwi.de: History Commission. The other four are Stefan Fisch ( German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer ), Dierk Hoffmann ( Institute for Contemporary History Munich-Berlin), Michael Hollmann (President of the Federal Archives Koblenz ), Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich ( Free University of Berlin ) and Albrecht Ritschl ( London School of Economics and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of Economics )
  2. ↑ Werner Abelshauser: The Long Fifties: Economy and Society of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949-1966. (Historical semiar). Cornelsen Verlag, 1987, ISBN 3-590-18165-6 .
  3. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , September 3, 1985.
  4. ^ Christoph Nonn: The Ruhr mining crisis. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001, ISBN 3-525-35164-X , p. 14.
  5. ↑ Bernd Ziesemer: Pioneers of the German Economy: What we can learn from the great entrepreneurial personalities . Campus Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-593-38121-4 , p. 7.
  6. ↑ Nikolaus Piper (ed.): The new economists. Stars, thought leaders and doers of German-speaking economics. A series of articles in the weekly newspaper Die Zeit . Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag 1997, ISBN 3-7910-1170-7 , p. 164.
  7. ↑ Review: Werner Bührer, German Economic Policy Between Dirigism and Liberalism, Neue Politische Literatur, vol. 62 (2017), pp. 413–428 (here: 428).
  8. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung , January 8, 2006.
  9. ↑ Prelude to Depression. Interview with Catherine Hoffmann. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . March 3, 2009, p. 26.
  10. ↑ Andreas Rödder: There will never be miracles again. In: FAZ . August 27, 2009, p. 7.
personal data
SURNAME Abelshauser, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German economic historian
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesloch