German Unification

As the article reports, the results of the parliamentary elections were generally interpreted as an endorsement of German unification and the role played in it by Mr. Kohl, leader of the Christian Democratic Party, and Foreign Minister HansDietrich Genscher of the Free Democratic Party.

The Free Democrats are entrenched as the center party in coalition with the CDUCSU. The CSU, or Christian Social Union, is the conservative sister party of the CDU. The leader of the Free Democrats, Foreign Minister HansDietrich Genscher, remains by far the most popular politician in West Germany and is well known and respected in East Germany.

As Stephen F. Szabo of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies points out in his "Reunited Germany" in Current History:

All this implies that the new German party system is likely to look a good deal like the old one. It will probably remain a fourparty system (CDUCSU, FDP, SPD and the Greens) although small groupings in East Germany may form alliances and survive briefly. The left faces the prospect of emerging even more divided than it was in West Germany

. . .
for both Germanys. LaFontaine reminded voters in the East of the social dislocations they were likely to face; on the other hand, he stressed that voters in the West would have to pay a hefty bill, especially in terms of new taxes. As Stephen F. Szabo of Johns Hopkins University's School of International Studies writes: The Social Democratic candidate for Chancellor, who had posed the economic and monetary union engineered by Kohl in July, consistently argued for a slower pace toward unification; thus he divided his party over the national issue ... the East German election of March proved to be a forerunner of the allGerman campaign ... (1990, November, p. 359). The current allGermany election results were not surprising in view of elections held this past spring. A look at the elections held in East Germany for the national parliament in March, 1990, and for local councils in May, 1990, shows little support for nondemocratic parties. The former Communist party (now called the party of Democratic Socialism, PDS) was the only exception, gaining the support of 1.8 million voters, or 16.3 percent of the East German electorate, in March. As we have already seen, the Party of Democratic Socialism won only 14 parliamentary seat
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
East German, York Times, Democratic Socialism, East Germany, Free Democrats, Social Democrats, Christian Democrats, FRG McAdams, Oskar Lafontaine, Democratic Party, east german, york times, december 3, 1990 december 3, 1990 november, 1990 december, democratic party, party democratic, democratic socialism, social democratic, east germany, party democratic socialism, york times 1990, times 1990 december, december 3 a10,
Approximate Word count = 1489
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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