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The paper (1) reviews the value differences between West and East Germany after unification and their development to date, and (2) explains the fact that between 1990 and 1995 East and West Germany do not approach each other in terms of values. (1) Of the four values considered, equality is more strongly endorsed in West Germany, whilst achievement is more strongly endorsed in the East. Co-determination finds more support in West Germany. Acceptancy of institutions differs in its two domains in opposite directions: Religiosity is more strongly supported in West Germany, morality in East Germany. Across all four values, differences between both parts of the country mostly remain constant or even grow between 1990 and 1995. (2) As the former German Democratic Republic relied heavily on 'work' as an integrative ideology, East Germans should still be able to create a feeling of togetherness today based on the work product they established under the GDR. On the other hand, as this work is no longer linked to an unjust and ineffective political and economic system, it retrospectively gains in value on the one hand. Yet, as it is inevitably poorly assessed in the economic reconstruction of East Germany, it continually loses its value on the other hand. As unification has set off these contradicting developments, East Germans attribute them to West Germany; hence their growing distance from West German values. (German Politics / FUB)

The authors analyze the development of the German mass media over the 30-year period of the existence of the united country, outline the main trends, and identify the features and prospects for the German's mass media development as the crucial institution of a modern democratic society. The context of the transformation of the modern media space seems relevant in scientific and practical terms.

This paper discusses comparison of economic and social indicators in the year 1988 between Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and German Democratic Republic (GDR). The budgetary costs of unification will be substantially larger than initially envisaged. Moreover, if one adds to the budget the increases in government debt related to equalization paper, a portion of the old enterprise debt on the books of the banks. The Trust Fund has been assigned a task or enormous scope and complexity: the privatization, restructuring, and in some cases, liquidation of 8000 enterprises with 4 million employees. Even taking care of the short-run financial problems of these enterprises has proved daunting; the more fundamental task will be near impossible to achieve with any rapidity. It is clearly essential to the success of economic integration that capital allow east rather than labor flowing west and that income growth and new opportunities arc enough to meet reasonable aspirations on the pan of the residents of East Germany

"It is easy in retrospect to ascribe inevitability to Germany's unification in 1990. But in fact, such events are the product of decisions made when the outcomes of a process are not yet clear. A dramatic opening in international relations, an ongoing upheaval in East German politics that put the old state's existence into question, and an economic collapse in East Germany forced policy-makers to seek not only a way out of the crisis but also new, stable structures at all levels. This volume examines these intertwining strands, taking into account both short-term interests and the long-term consequences"--Provided by publisher