Germany Still Divided

A detailed Summary of Germany Still Divided

The shocking fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe in the late eighties was remarkable for both its rapidity and its scope. None more than for East and West Germany. "The unification of Germany has been one of the most significant and moving events of the 20th century. Yet the euphoria of those heady days in autumn 1989, when the world watched in rapt attention as the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, has since fizzled. The process has proven to be far more painful than (then) Chancellor Helmut Kohl had promised Germans in 1990 on the eve of the first all-German elections since the Nazi's rise to power."(Ireland, 541) This resulted from the underestimation that was placed on integrating the democratic system of government and free-market economy of West Germany with the communist foundation of East Germany. The shift from communism took a whole new context in Germany. The peoples involved were not looking to affect a narrow set of policy reforms; indeed, what was at stake was a hyper-radical shift from the long-held communist ideology to a western blueprint for governmental and economic policy development. According to theories of modernization, higher levels of socioeconomic achievement facilitates an increas

Evolution, Revolution, and Diffusion." German Unification: Processes and Outcomes. M. Donald Hancock and Helga A Welsh, eds. Boulder: Westview, 1994. p.17-34.

In regards to the economic aspects of unification, some major problems exist in the transition to a free-market economy. First, and probably the most significant factor is the epidemic of unemployment that has infected East Germany. Prior to unification slightly over half of East Germany's 16 million people were employed and this figure has been steadily declining since 1989. Currently, "the east's unemployment rate of more than 17% is double that of the west's (Aaland, r12). In a market economy these grim statistics breed frustration and discontent among the populace.

Aaland, Dagmar. "A Nation Still Divided", The Wall Street Journal. 27 Sept. 1999.

Bauer-Kaase, Petra. "Germany in Transition: the Challenge of Coping with Unification.".

The failure in the economic and political integration has been the catalyst for numerous other social ills. The main being a backlash of violence against ethnic groups and a rise in right wing political groups that support this behavior. Many believe that the economic effects of unification, particularly the increase in unemployment, is causing Germans and foreigners to compete for jobs, housing, and other scarce commodities, and in turn generating resentment among the German citizens. As, Patrick Ireland adds," high unemployment and uncertainty about job prospects during the transformation of a command economy into a market economy are seen as having produced disorientation and rootless ness among vulnerable people in the east...Grievances become politicized, with right-wing extremists mobilizing support and winning sympathy from the public. Existing social divisions widen, and those groups blamed for the perceived problems become favored targets...Thus East Germans, some of whom believed that they were competing with foreign contract laborers for consumer goods and other resources before unification, began to feel seriously deprived compared to their wealthy western neighbors after 1989. It became easier to make scapegoats of foreigners"(544).

German Unification: Processes and Outcomes. M. Donald Hancock and Helga A. Welsch, eds. Boulder: Westview, 1994. 285-311

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Approximate Word count = 1557
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics