One of the central issues of the twentieth century has been that of government, and the related economic systems: Monarchy or democracy? Capitalist or communist? Socialist or anarchist? Fascist or progressive? Traditionalist or modernist? Parliamentary or representative? Many of these questions have been asked - and given a variety of answers - in Berlin.
The city saw the beginnings of the German nation, the rise and fall of the
monarchy, socialist and anarchist rebellions, parliamentary democracy, elected
dictatorship, and socialism. It also saw various attempts at German colonization,
from the Berlin Conference in 1884-5 to the megalomaniacal Lebensraum expansionism
of Nazi Germany. In fact, the reunification of 1991 is considered by some former
East Germans to have been a "colonization" of the East by the West.
The tensions between self-determination and the rule over others have a long
history in Berlin, and a study of the history of government in the city may
shed light not only on the particular course of Germany, but on the relationship
between Europe (and its settler colonies) and the rest of the world.
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