In the eyes of many historians, "1968" stands for the "first global rebellion" (Wolfgang Kraushaar) of the twentieth century, a "revolution in the world system and a revolution of the world system itself" (Immanuel Wallerstein). In many countries, the 1960s and early 1970s gave rise to youth movements with similar aims. Primarily in the Western industrial nations, the protest converged in demands to dismantle authoritarian structures in the educational system and in all of society, to overcome the capitalist economic system, and to end the intervention of the super powers in Third World countries and, especially, in the Vietnam War. These young radicals based their social criticism on Neo-Marxism, Critical Theory, and psychoanalysis. They used forms of protest derived from the American civil rights movement, but also from the avant-garde and neo-avant-garde movements in art.

In this context, it is striking that particularly strong movements formed in the very countries where the Second World War triggered expansionist policies. In Germany, Italy, and Japan, fierce conflicts between activists and state powers lasted for years, culminating as a potent left-wing terrorism. Japan and Germany, especially, shared a history of losing World War II and bearing the burden of extensive war crimes. Both were occupied by a victorious nation, who used its military bases in these countries to support their proxy wars in the Third World and Vietnam. In other words, in the historical development of both nations, the role of the USA and its influence on their politics, culture, and society can hardly be overestimated.

The relationship of the USA to Japan as well as to the Federal Republic of Germany exerted decisive influence on the domestic and foreign policies of both countries in the Cold War. Simultaneously, Japanese and West German society were undergoing a dramatic social and cultural transformation as their economies resurged after the Second World War. In the 1960s, this transformation brought about the gradual transition from industrial to consumer society. At the same time, the official re-education policy of the USA was replaced by the massive distribution of commercial American-Western-shaped popular and youth culture, which offered numerous points of departure for a protesting generation.

Despite all these common factors, the movements in Japan and Germany developed in very different ways. In the long run, too, they had different consequences for the political and daily life of both societies. Forty-one years after the revolts, this conference, "1968 in Japan, the USA and Germany: Political Protest and Cultural Change" seeks to understand the causes for the similarities and differences among the movements of 1968 in the two industrial nations, the similarities and differences in their relations with America, as well as the cultural historical consequences of their diverging histories.

The conference is oriented to the recent scholarship on "1968," which has highlighted two interlocking aspects of the revolts. First, it has shown that, although the movements failed politically - that is, they were unable to achieve any of their political goals - they can still be viewed as a driving force of cultural and attitudinal change. Nevertheless-and this is the second aspect-the concept of "cultural revolution" also misses the mark because the revolts of 1968 in the Federal Republic of Germany, the USA, and Japan utilized symbolic forms that had already been developed in the late 1950s. Accordingly, the movements of 1968 took up long-term processes of change, exploited them for political ends, and thus functioned more as catalysts than initiators of cultural change.

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last update: 2008-11-20