Politics, place and German reunification: a realignment approach

The union of the two postwar German states appealed to a shared historical experience of ‘Germany’ justifying reunification. At the same time divergent lived experiences of 40 years on either side of the Iron Curtain mean that reunification is not the mirror image of division. There has to be readjustment from both sides at various spatial scales. Meaning and significance must be bargained for, requiring restructuring and renewed realignment at all scales. This process is placed in the broader theoretical context which considers the spectrum of nation-state formation and division, partition and reunification, involving the interrelationships between spatial scales, historical developments, economic and political aims, symbolisms of place and geopolitical concerns. Two examples illustrate the contested nature of this restructuring at regional, national and European levels: the fate of the Zonal Border Area regional development programme and the Bonn-Berlin debate of 1991.