The New Germany

Abstract

Stephen F. Szabo is associate dean for academic affa'irs at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of numerous publications on European and specifically politics, including The Changing Politics of Security (1990). His article is based on a chapter in From Leninism to Freedom, edited by Margaret Latus Nugent, to be published by Westview Press in 1992, and is reprinted here with permission of the publisher. Far from closing the German question, the unification of Germany has opened it yet again. Especially pertinent is the issue raised over 30 years ago by Ralf Dahrendorf in his classic study of West Germany--namely, why has Germany had such difficulty in establishing liberal democracy? ~ Might not the thread of his inquiry be profitably taken up anew as we ponder the prospects for democratization in Eastern Germany? Unlike the western two-thirds of Germany, the eastern third has never sustained a successful democracy. Its only experience with democracy came to an end along with the Weimar Republic in 1933. With its incorporation under Article 23 of the Basic Law into the Federal Republic, the territory of the former Democratic Republic (GDR) is now again part of a democracy. Yet Eastern Germany faces not only many problems common to other postcommunist democracies, but also serious questions about its impact on democracy. Eastern Germany's incorporation into the larger and successful democracy of West Germany gives it an advantage not shared by the other new European democracies; few doubt that this will ensure the viability of democracy in the East. But democracy in Eastern Germany could have a decisive impact on the overall balance of politics. The recent decision to move the capital from Bonn to Berlin is an example of how the presence of the new legislators from the East decided an emotional and hard-fought national issue.