Political Culture in Post Unification Germany (Paperback)

Official government assessments and social science research studies refer to the concept of inner unity in post unification Germany; yet the concept remains undefined. This study looks at identity as theoretical approach to understand unity via concepts of collective self-understanding and self- definition. Analyzing East-West newspaper articles around historically significant dates which mark collective memories and articulate changing self- definitions demonstrate the conceptual link between inner unit and identity. Theorizing the historical, sociological and philosophical dimensions of collective identity has mainly be done by West German academics while East German writers are dominant in the realm of arts and letters as they conjecture the meaning and implications of post unification identity. After examining the learned community's analysis of Germany's collective state of mind, I concluded that "inner unity" is a misleading term, but "inner disunity", understood as societal disorientation regarding identity, is evident both in the media as well as in the public discourse of the country's intellectuals.