National Identity in Eastern Germany - Inner Unification or Continued Separation?

On October 30, 1990, Germany was formally reunified through an extension of the legal, political, and economic structures of West Germany into the former German Democratic Republic. For East Germans this transformation has been a challenging process. Former values, orientations, and standards have been subject to severe scrutiny as reunification has affected virtually every area of life.

Staab analyzes the development from the divided to the unified Germany and asks to what extent East Germans have adopted a national identity in line with that of the West Germans. He examines such identity markers as attitudes toward territory, economics, ethnicity, mass culture, and civic-political activity. Identifying a significant range of commonalities, he also finds striking features of mutually exclusive areas working to prevent a shared national identity. Scholars and other researchers dealing with German politics and contemporary history, political sociology, and nationalism will be interested in this book.

List of contents

Introduction
Territory
Economics
Citizenship
Mass Culture
Ethnicity
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

About the author

ANDREAS STAAB is Academic Development Officer, European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science. He lectures on European and German politics and has published articles on German identity and German public administration.

Product details

• Authors: Andreas Staab, Staab Andreas
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.03.1998
• EAN: 9780275961770
• ISBN: 978-0-275-96177-0
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; HISTORY / Europe / Germany, Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, European History, Germany, Economics, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economics / General, Anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / European, Politics & government, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, Politics and government, Physical anthropology, Politics, Law, and Government: Comparative Politics