`WIR SIND EIN VOLK'? REFLECTIONS ON GERMAN UNIFICATION

In: Parliamentary affairs: a journal of representative politics, Band 44, Heft 3, S. 389-404

Abstract

A YEAR AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE BERLIN WALL THERE ARE SERIOUS INDICATIONS OF SOCIAL TENSIONS CONSEQUENT OF THE UNIFICATION OF THE TWO GERMANIES. AFTER AN EXAMINATION OF PRESENT CONDITIONS THIS ARTICLE CONCLUDES THAT TWO SCENARIOS APPEAR EQUALLY POSSIBLE. EITHER A PERIOD OF TURMOIL AND TURBULENCE WOULD BE FOLLOWED BY A PHASE OF NORMALIZATION. THE ENLARGED FEDERAL REPUBLIC WOULD EMERGE BASICALLY MUCH THE SAME AS BEFORE. ALTERNATELY, THE PERIOD OF TURMOIL WOULD SPAWN SUCH SOCIAL TENSIONS AND POLITICAL SPIN-OFFS THAT A PERIOD OF GREAT UNPREDICTABILITY WOULD ENSUE.