France and Germany - pictures, stereotypes, reflections and the perception of the neighbour in times of crises Nomos / Heinrich Böll Stiftung / DGAP - Schriften zur Internationalen Politik
Pictures are an integral part of the process of conveying the state and character of French-German relations. Such pictures highlight not only justified criticisms but also prejudices and clichés. The use of these pictures has intensified since 2008 because the financial and EU crises heightened resentment between the two countries.
These prejudices and clichés are all upheld, refuted, used against each other and employed in each country to spark political debate. Several questions have arisen from these two developments: How is France and Germany’s perception of each other developing? What patterns is this development following? Which stereotypes spark politics and the media into action and why?
This anthology examines political and media discourse in both countries. The studies it contains not only deal with the public debate but also with specific issues such as the turnaround in energy policy, family policy and the refugee crisis. Political caricatures, press photos taken at official occasions and graphs depicting opinion poll results present the areas of tension in a visual form.