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German Reunification

GERMAN REUNIFICATION:
PROBLEMS AND RESEARCH METHODS

In the worldwide arena of comparative politics, the reunification of Germany in 1990 was a pivotal point in time. With the players coming from opposite ends of the political and economic spectrum, the reunification set the stage for major changes both in Germany and the entire European community. These changes offered an important model which comparitivists continue to use in order to examine questions and issues raised by the integration of such different societies and governments. One such crucial political puzzle involves a question still extremely relevant today: how does a formerly totalitarian nation leave behind every social and cultural aspect of their past government in order to evolve into a democratic state? Similarly, another key issue involves transition as well: how would a previously communist economy be converted to capitalism – and essentially dive into a completely unfamiliar competitive environment – without collapsing under the strain? These questions provide two different lenses through which an observer can scrutinize the reunification of Germany in order to gain an understanding more broadly applicable to the field of comparative politics.

The process of democratization was a source of swift and indelible social, political, and cultural change for the East and West Germans alike. In East Germany, the process involved the systematic breakdown of their former government, and the permanent transition and consolidation of West German policies and power. For many, the political landscape of the Europe they grew up with no longer existed; with the way things had been, there simply were no “Trabbis” – a standard-issue East German automobile – on the other side of the iron curtain (Reimann 1998, 1988). Yet despite the expectation of swift equalization, the transition had a profound impact on daily lives on both sides of the not-so-forgotten...

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