Book Reviews : The Federation of German Industry in Politics. By GERARD BRAUNTHAL. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1965. Pp. xv, 389. $7.50.)

• Published date: 01 March 1966
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900114
• Author: Ronald F. Bunn
• Date: 01 March 1966
• Subject Matter: Articles

151
cellent. There is little dispute any more that we live under a government of men as
well as laws. Yet we have only begun to find out what public ofhce means, in human
terms, to those who govern. In a time of might and malaise such questions have
special urgency.&dquo;
CONRAD JOYNER
University of Arizona
The Federation of German Industry in Politics. By GERARD BRAUNTHAL. (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 1965. Pp. xv, 389. $7.50.)
Although modified to meet certain institutional and environmental changes of
the postwar era, the organization of the West German business community is pat-
terned essentially after a tripartite structure which is historically rooted in the nine-
teenth century. Employers’ associations (Arbeitgeberverbaende) represent man-
agerial interests in the public policy fields affecting labor relations and social welfare
and in the multi-employer bargaining system. Economic chambers ( Wirtscha f ts-
kammern), which are public law corporations with compulsory membership, per-
form such quasi-governmental functions as licensing businessmen, shopkeepers, and
artisans, and advise Land authorities on matters with public policy implications in
the areas of commerce, handicrafts, and agriculture. Economic associations ( Wirt-
schaftsverbaende) are more specialized group spokesmen for management in the
industrial sector of the economy and concentrate (in contrast with the employers’
associations) on economic policies, such as foreign trade regulations, cartel legis-
lation and administration, taxes, price and credit controls, and public spending pat-
terns. However, membership overlaps to a certain extent at various levels of the
structure and the functional distinctions among the three types of associations are
not as rigid as the formal structure would suggest. Each of these three tiers in the
structure is capped by national &dquo;peak&dquo; federations and it is the national &dquo;peak&dquo;
federation of the economic associations, the Federation...