Introduction

Abstract

The breaching of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the GDR, the unification of West and East Germany and the end of the Cold War dominated world events in 1989–90. Since then united Germany has begun to cope with the political, economic, social and external challenges unification has posed to its institutions and way of life in both the western and eastern part of the once divided country. While the country has successfully tackled some of the problems unification has presented, like the threat to the stability of the state from right-wing groups and parties, other issues, as for example the high rate of unemployment and the Stasi legacy, still remain unresolved.