Unified Germany: A normal state?

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Abstract
This paper asks to what extent unification has changed the nature of the German state. In its formal institutions post‐1990 Germany is a larger version of the Federal Republic established in 1949. It has inherited most of its leading characteristics in the form of a liberal, pluralist constitutionalism, a federal structure, a social market economy and the commitment to Western integration. Yet each of these characteristics is under challenge as a result of unification. Political consensus is weaker in a more heterogeneous society; distribution conflicts put a strain on social peace and the structures of federalism; and the commitment to Western integration suffers from wider doubts about the future of NATO and of European institutions. While the present frontiers of a German nation‐state seem to be generally accepted, old disputes about national identity have resurfaced. Nevertheless the factors making for stability and continuity remain strong, as the experience of managing a democratic market economy continues to provide grounds for loyalty to, and confidence in, the first true nation‐state in German history.