Abstract
As the Federal Republic ends its fifth decade, it is faced with a variety of domestic and foreign political problems, many of which are common to other advanced industrial democracies: unemployment, environmental protection, crime, drug abuse, urban development, energy, the financing of the extensive social welfare system, European integration, economic growth, and East-West relations in a post—Cold War world. All these issues are dwarfed, however, by the challenge of unification. The Federal Republic in the 1990s is attempting to integrate 16 million East Germans into its Western-style society, economy, and polity. Most of these new citizens have lived for most of their lives under either Nazi or Communist dictatorships. Their experience with Western democracy is limited to the period since November 1989 during which they have experienced a rapid and sometimes difficult transformation of their society and way of life. Unified Germany must also define its role in the international arena and especially its relationship to the postcommunist societies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. This chapter examines these issues.
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© 1998 Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Hancock, M.D., Conradt, D.P., Peters, B.G., Safran, W., Zariski, R. (1998). What Is the Future of German Politics?. In: Politics in Western Europe. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14555-3_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14555-3_15
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-69893-8
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