Germany Years Before President Reagan Term Paper

The two main problems that Germany faces during its current reunification process can be generalized and applied to other historical and contemporary situations. Nearly any nation attempting to piece itself back together after deep divisions would experience some economic, social, and political conflict. For example, after the Civil War, the United States dealt with heady economic, political and social problems that remain problems well over a century later. As in Germany, a lack of frank ethical discussions may have contributed to the lingering social problems in the United States. Under the GDR government, big state-controlled industry prevailed and small independently-owned businesses were anathema. Free enterprise was suppressed for decades and stimulating small business growth after reunification has proven difficult in Eastern Germany. Similarly, the American government did little to invest in the stimulation of African-American entrepreneurship and the endemic poverty amongst black communities remains a poignant problem in the United States.

History may also have a bearing on how a nation deals with reunification and may affect the social, political, economic realities in the reunified country. Like the United States, Germany is a relatively new nation. Original German unification occurred as recently as 1871, when the Prussian Deutsche Reich extended its southern boundaries. The Weinmar Republic lasted from 1919 to 1933, before the outbreak of World War Two. Under Hitler's rule, the Third Reich and National Socialism pervaded German consciousness until the division of the German territories into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Thus, many Germans were contending with the idea of being "unified" just a century before they confronted "reunification." The official reunification of Germany in 1990 may have seemed like the birth of a new nation for many citizens.

Germany, the most populous nation in Europe has also become one of its wealthiest; following World War Two, the FRG thrived even without its industry-heavy Eastern counterpart.However, reunification has resulted in Germany's accruing a considerable amount of debt. Donations of tax monies to alleviate unemployment, improve infrastructure, and stimulate growth have left many Germans feeling resentful over otherwise robust social welfare programs. Reunification with the territories that had been lost after the war meant assuming all of the GDR's preexisting problems, which were not caused by the citizens of the FRG but rather by mismanagement under Socialist Unity Party rule and Soviet influence.

The economic and social problems evident in Germany's reunification process would haunt any attempt to unify a nation or region. Germany in fact did not face some of the problems that it might have if its population was more ethnically heterogeneous, too. The nations that have attempted to remain intact in spite of sharp distinctions between its indigenous ethnic populations add yet another problem to preexisting economic and social ones. After Gorbachev agreed to tear down that wall, former Soviet republics have become embroiled in civil wars that Germany, thankfully, avoided.

References

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Manus, Susan. "Perspectives on German Reunification." Library of Congress Information Bulletin. Nov. 1997. Retrieved July 17, 2006 at http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9711/sommer.html

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