Political Thought and German Reunification

MARK R. THOMPSON Professor of Political Science, University of Erlangen-Nuernberg NICOAL PIPER Researcher, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen DR TUOMAS FORSBERG Director, Finnish Institute of International Affairs JAN MAuLLER Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford GEORG CAVALLAR Research Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of California, Riverside WERNER SUSS Department of Political Science, Free University, Berlin MANFRED RIEDEL Professor of Philosophy, Halle University, Sachsen-Anhalt MARIA ZENS Research, Bonn University, Germany RALF RYTLEWSKI Professor of Political Science, Free University, Berlin

and finally, the role of Germany in Europe and the wider world. These issues are examined in terms of transformations in the political culture in eastern Germany, metamorphoses in the political ideology and philosophy of the former West Germany, and relations with the political discourse of the West in general.How are the Germans coming to terms with (re)unification? Four issues are at the heart of this process and form the basis of this study. First, the question of the new German identity; second, the role of nationalism in the new republic; third, the role of inherited ideologies; and finally, the role of Germany in Europe and the wider world. These issues are examined in terms of transformations in the political culture in eastern Germany, metamorphoses in the political ideology and philosophy of the former West Germany, and relations with the political discourse of the West in general.