Germany: Geopolitical Analysis

Written by:

Emrick Couture-Picard

Jennifer Gutierrez

Cherie Wong

Sarah Dun Cárdenas

Camille Thompson

Roda Harun

Presented to

Prof .Dra. Heike Pintor Pirzkall

Political Geography of Europe (E000000271)

December 18th, 2015

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2

2. Cultural and social influences before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall -------------------2

3. Political development --------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

Political system and its effects

Germany in the European Union

Current Relations with other Countries

4. Economic development -----------------------------------------------------------------------------8

Before 1989

- Currency

- Economic system

- Trading partners

After 1989

- Reunification

- Eurozone

- Economics crisis

5. Geography & Resources ---------------------------------------------------------------------------13

6. Conclusion -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14

7. Bibliography -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------16

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Introduction

Without a doubt, one of the most studied countries on the European continent is Germany.

Germany's rich history has drawn many observers from all sectors to study its diverse and

complex identity. In this study, it was chosen to examine Germany before and after the fall of the

Berlin Wall, from 1957 to present day. The juxtaposition of concepts allows one to further

understand the unique position Germany stands in today. The timeline of this research paper

begins with Germany's Eastern/Western split under four great powers--the United States, Great

Britain, France and USSR. Furthermore, before the split caused by the construction of the Berlin

Wall. The paper also observes the tension and hostility created by the Berlin Wall and finally

highlights Germany's modernity and growth in the European Union.

Cultural and Social Influences Before and After the Fall of the Berlin Wall

One of Germany’s most unique characteristics, as previously mentioned, is its fairly

recent unification. Germany’s reunification generated much skepticism— Would it ever reach

perfect social unity? A theory scrutinized during the Wall’s time was the Integration Theory:

“Pairs of nations with similar levels of social, economic, and administrative development

are more likely to collaborate, despite different political and cultural values. If one half of

a divided nation tacitly matches the development patterns of the other half, then this

symmetrical growth strategy creates favorable domestic conditions” (Jo & Walker, 1972).

Today, Germany is a diverse and modern country shaped by a variety of life styles; Coexistence

appears on several levels—there is a great sense of open mindedness (Hintereder, 2005).

Although despite these findings, Germany still faces social gaps left after the fall of the Berlin

Wall.

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Before the destruction of the Berlin Wall, as Gabriele von Hagens stated in Berlin Wall 20

Years On (2009), West Berlin “didn’t change much.” The West was crowded, felt isolated, and

was an incredibly dependent state; the Allies were West Berliners’ only hope (Lovell, Panetta &

Bennett, 2009). The East was oppressive and anti-religious; it permitted little freedom of thought,

expression, and opinion (Art of Good Government, 2015). There was constant surveillance as

well; suspicious governmental acts were a common occurrence—there was a constant feeling of

being watched (Art of Good Government, 2015). Contrasting the West, there was no advertising

and little consumer consumption in the East; there was an absence of materialistic fears, it was a

very basic lifestyle—as an East Berliner commented in Berlin Wall 20 Years On (2009), life was

just “grey.” Overall, before unification, both East and West were places of anxiousness and

uncertainty. Without a doubt, great efforts would be needed to truly reunite the country.

Immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, assimilation between East and West was not

the most agile process. West Germans and East Germans had preconceived judgments of each

other that made social unification a bit arduous. Many times East Germans felt West Germans

were “brash, arrogant, disgustingly rich, without any sense of value” (Art of Good Government,

2015). West Germans sensed the lack of “free human creativity” and repressed manners that

came with socialist ideologies; inevitably though, “Unification was in practice a ‘Wessification’

of the East” (Art of Good Government, 2015).

Today, although modern and cosmopolitan, Germany still faces noticeable divides.

According to Noak’s study (2014) 75 percent of East German inhabitants found Germany’s

reunification successful while only 50 percent of West Germans agreed with this statement.

Aside from opinion polls, factual data provides a more concrete division. In the West disposable

income is higher and the youthful population is much higher; the East has higher unemployment

rates and farming lands are much larger (Noak, 2014). Altogether, one realizes Germany lacks a

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concrete social structure. Germany’s social aspects and culture seem to be continually molded by

time and persistently influenced by its past—the Berlin Wall.

As the integration theory predicts, there are several levels nations need to be similar on in order

to achieve complete unification; it is no surprise, still today, Germany is divided. Optimistically

speaking, the unification of Germany was a recent event and time can help mend the social gaps

of such a polarizing calamity.

Political development

Political system and its effects

Germany is a federal state divided in 16 Landers. (Guay, 2015) It is a parliamentary

democracy established in 1949 with the basic law. (Guay, 2015) The basic law, which is the

constitution, sets up all the institutional construction of the state and also assure protection of the

human rights. In order to achieve this goal, the basic law also defines the country as a welfare

state. (Hartmann, 2015)

The bicameral parliament is constituted of the Bundestag, which is the lower chamber,

and the Bundesrat, which is the upper chamber. (Hartmann, 2015) The first one is elected and has

the legislative power. It also have to elect the Chancellor among them or to relieve him by

denying him their confidence. The second one represents the states and is constituted of delegates

of the states’ governments. It also has legislative power, but only for issues related to the state

administrative costs or modification to the central law. Each state has between 3 and 6 delegates

depending on their demographic size (Hartmann, 2015).

“He is, as it were, the "captain" of the ship of state.” (Federal government, 2015) The

chancellor is the head of the executive power and the one who sets the general policy guidelines.

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(Federal government, 2015) Moreover, it’s the chancellor who proposes the candidates for the

cabinet to the president, or dismiss them the same way. (Federal government, 2015) In fact, he

simply personally chooses them. In case of a military attack on the country, it is the Chancellor

that has the military power. The Chancellor also has the right to propose a vote of no confidence

to the Bundestag (Hartmann, 2015).

The president is the head of the state and he represents the country. He also has the

symbolic power of appointing important member government members, judges and high-ranked

civil servants. (Hartmann, 2015) He has the power to dismiss the parliament and in exceptional

time to dissolve it. He must confirm any decision made by the government and be sure it has

been done in accordance with the legislative methods. He is elected by the federal convention,

which is constituted of delegates from states’ governments and the Bundestag. (Hartmann, 2015)

The Federal Constitutional Court is the highest local court. It holds the monopoly of

interpretation in every jurisdiction. (Hartmann, 2015) It is the materialization of the highest level

of judicial power.

The electoral system for the Bundestag is mixed with proportional compensation,

calculated with the quotient of Hobbes. (Guay, 2014) In order to have a siege in the proportional

vote, a party must have at least 5% of the total vote. This system creates a good balance between

territorial and demographic representation (Guay, 2014). It also blocks the very small parties

from being elected while at the same time being open to social and political changes. It

encourages a multiparty system and the creation of coalitions, because a false majority, or a big

electoral distortion in other terms, is almost impossible. (Krennerich, 2006) In fact, according to

Gallagher’s index, the average in Germany’s actual system history is about 2.29. (Gallagher,

2015) Moreover, it creates an environment of great political stability with almost no

governmental crisis. (Kimmel, 2008) In the end, this system is stable while being open to social

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and political changes and permits a good representation of the demographic structure of the

country. Because of the coalitions, it also promotes cooperation in the political sphere, which is

also highly due to historical and cultural tendencies. (Krennerich, 2006)

Germany in the European Union

Germany has been a member of the European Union since January 1st, 1958 when they

became part of the European Economic Community (European Union, 2015). Germany, along

with Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed the Treaties of Rome. The

European Parliament, the EU’s law-making body, contains 96 members from Germany which

represent the German population (European Union, 2014). Germany has the largest population of

any EU country and makes up about 15.9% of the total European Union population (European

Union, 2014). Since Germany’s economy is larger and contributes more than other EU member

countries, Germany has a lot more influence in decision-making processes in the EU. In 2013, the

EU spent around EUR 13.056 billion in Germany while Germany contributed EUR 26.125 back

to the EU budget (European Union, 2014). Germany’s cohesion policy with the European Union

will provide Germany with EUR 19.2 billion as well as another EUR 8.3 billion for rural

development between 2014 and 2020 (European commission, 2015). All of these funds are to

eventually flow into the German economy and aim at growing the economy and creating jobs

(European commission, 2015). Their main funding priorities are to reduce local disparities in

competitiveness; promote research and innovation; increase use of renewable energy; use labor

market potentials; strengthen social inclusion; and increase educational success (European

commission, 2015).

Current Relations with other Countries

In light of the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis, Germany has facilitated an open-door policy in

which 760,000 refugees from January to October (Traynor, 2015). German Chancellor, Angela

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Merkel led a “coalition of the willing” of nine EU countries taking in most refugees from the

Middle East on November 27th, 2015 (Traynor, 2015). The purpose of this meeting was to

persuade other European Union members to join a mandatory refugee-sharing scheme across the

EU (Traynor, 2015). “An unprecedented full EU summit with Turkey agreed a fragile pact aimed

at stemming the flow of migrants to Europe via Turkey…The president of the European

commission, Jean-Claude Juncker is attempting to come up with a system of redistributing an

annual “contingent” of refugees from Turkey among the willing countries.” (Traynor, 2015). On

the other hand, Turkey is willing to tighten its borders but they have renewed talks about

becoming part of the European Union (Traynor, 2015). A key element in how the EU plans on

addressing the crisis is by providing the refugees in Turkey with an initial €3 billion in aid over

two years which is intended to raise their living standards so they would want to remain in

Turkey (Traynor, 2015).

Another main conflict arose when Germany decided to join the fight against IS after an

appeal by French President Francois Hollande in the wake of the November 13th, 2015 Paris

attacks

(Syria conflict, 2015). The German cabinet has decided to back plans for military support against

the Islamic State militants in Syria, and although its forces will not engage in combat but instead

back the mission, this would become Germany's biggest current military operation abroad (Syria

conflict, 2015). Last week, Germany also agreed to send 650 soldiers to Mali, to join 1,500

French troops deployed to fight IS militants. Many people are concerned and believe this is

irresponsible for Germany to do because of the belief that the deployment has “no political goal,

no political concept” (Syria conflict, 2015). Furthermore, “an opinion poll published on Tuesday”

voiced their opinions and “according to the YouGov poll for the DPA news agency, 71%

believed it would raise the threat of attack in Germany” (Syria conflict, 2015).

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Economic development

Before 1989

Because the separation of East and West Germany resulted in entirely different

economies, 2 attributions will be discussed, being the currency and the economic system.

Currency

For instance, East Germany adopted the East German Mark (Mark der DDR), which was

considered a soft currency. That meant that they were hyper sensitive and fluctuated easily due to

unstable governments and economies. Because of this reason, East German Mark was subject to

high inflation that it was practically worthless outside East Germany. Allied soldiers took

advantage of this low value currency to buy goods in East Germany and smuggled out of the

country (Newnham, 2010). Other than that, other countries would not want to trade with them in

such unstable currency, which is one of reasons why the economy was weak.

In contrast, West Germany used the Deutsche Mark, which was a hard currency. This

attributed to the strict monetary policies that boosted investors’ confidence in the economy.

Deutsche Mark’s reputation as being stable was one of the reasons leading to the country’s

prosperity (Newnham, 2010).

Economic System

The huge difference in the currency was a result of the economy system. East Germany

had a tightly controlled market by adopting a “centrally-planned economy”. Examples include

production targets to meet, prices and allocation of resources set by the state and state-owned

production line. Therefore, productivity of the labour market was low because there was not

enough incentive that companies were not there to maximize their profits but solely to meet

targets. However, East Germany remained the Soviet Bloc’s largest economy and the most stable

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of the all (Turner, 1994). Although it still did not possess the ability and economic capacity to

compete with West Germany.

On the other hand, West Germany adopted the market economy where free trade was

encouraged. Exports in terms of percentage in GDP increased steadily from 19% in 1960, 21% in

1970 to 26.4% in 1980, of which technology-based industries contributed 90% of the exports.

This proved to be essential to its economy that transformed West Germany into having the 4 th

largest GDP in the world. However, 2 oil crises in 1973-74 and 1979-80 caused subsequent

recessions in the country. The 1982 recession defined the low economic growth since then and

until the reunification in 1990 that the economy started to grow faster. GDP per capita, economy

potential growth rate and labour productivity all dropped to a low. (Siebert, 2005)

Trading partners

In terms of trading partners, East Germany was limited to trades within the Soviet Union

and its neighbouring Socialist countries because of the closed border policy. The “Iron Curtain”

not just limited the movement of citizens within but also the flow of money. Contrarily, West

Germany focuses on the Western side of Europe because it considered Eastern trade

economically insignificant. It was justified when the USSR was unable to produce agricultural

surplus to export itself. However, trading relations survived by the hope of a German

reunification in West Germany, exemplified by the West German-Soviet trade agreement (1957-

58). subsequent Chancellors tried to maneuver trade agreements and sanctions with USSR, which

might have contributed to the event of 1989.

After 1989

Reunification

The fall of the Berlin wall, and especially the reunification of the country, will change the

face of Germany’s economy. Germany annual GDP growth would lower to 1.5% while

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unemployment would rise all over the country, particularly in the former East state (Ahearn &

Belkin, 2011, p.311). West Germany would absorbed, to some extent, the East part by privatizing

the state-firms and reorienting the economy towards the West (Ahearn & Belkin, 2011, p.319)

but mostly by implementing the West Deutsche Mark as the official currency. With the adoption

of a single currency, East would experience a radical inflation in the prices of goods (for

example, bread will go up by 509%) which will lower their savings and their domestic product

spending power but augmenting it towards import products (MarketLine, 2014). If the exchange

rate of the East German Mark and the West Deutsche mark was of 2:1 (after an amount of 2000

to 6000 depending on age) for the savings of the population, all the wages were modified at a 1:1

exchange rate (MarketLine, 2014). By drastically augmenting the salaries, the reunification of

Germany forced the East firms to cut work-time of almost a million of workers and pressure early

retirements, pushing the unemployment to 15% (Roland, 2011).

Three years after the Fall, 10% of the Easter Labour Forces had moved West (Douglas,

2009) and this massive immigration will slowed the development of the former communist part.

In 1993, the east will produced only 40% of the West capacity (Roland, 2011) and the national

forestry and agriculture industry will fall under ¼ of its former productivity. However the country

will see an increase of 50% in construction employment (Roland, 2011) due to the need of

reunification of the countries.

The East survival will, during many years depends on the transfers of the West welfare

system (Ahearn & Belkin, 2011; Roland, 2011). It is estimated that between 1991 and 2003, 900

billion of euros had been transferred from the West to East Germany. However this burden was

compensated by the opening of new opportunities for some industries to move East where the

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labour forces was cheaper and the working laws looser, particularly in Hungary and Poland

(Dustmann, 2014).

Eurozone

In 2002, Germany entered the Eurozone. The German mark, by unwritten rule, found

itself in a very advantageous and secure situation by which the other currencies could be

devalued but never revalued against it (Rosenthal, 2012). Therefore, the country that was running

a persistent deficit was, by 2009, growing its GDP and running surpluses, half of it due to its

trade with the of European partners (Rosenthal, 2012). The unemployment that was almost

reaching 12% in 2005 (18% in former East Germany), felt down below 8% by 2008 (Ahearn &

Belkin, 2011).

It is also during those years that Germany will become a powerful export-based economy.

At the dawn of the economic crisis, export of German’s products represented 47% of its GDP

(Ahearn & Belkin, 2011). If most of it was destined to other European members, Germany has

also developed, unlike most of its neighbours, trade agreements in Africa, Asia as well as Latin

America (Erber, 2013). The success of Germany reposed partly on the decision to specialize its

economy and to keep the wage to a stable level. While developing its cars, machinery of

precision and chemical industry, Germany has tried thought out the years to make the wages

remain the same so it economy stays competitive (Ahearn & Belkin, 2011). However, if this

strategy advantaged its export, it gave less spending power to the consumer (lowering

consumption) and causes exile of intellectuals.

Economics crisis

When the global economy collapse in 2009, the drastic reduction of foreign demand for

goods lowered Germany export of about 20% and started a recession (Ahearn & Belkin, 2011).

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Three years after the beginning of the economic crisis, Germany was already doing better

financially. Struggling European Economies are yet criticizing Germany export-centred

economy, accusing it to make it even more difficult for its trade partners to get out of the crisis

(German Trade and the Eurozone: A Matter of Inequality, 2015). Germany remained the largest

European partner of the United States (Ahearn & Belkin, 2011) and the only European country

running a trade surplus with China (Erber, 2013):

(Erber, 2013, p.17)

Nowadays, within its own borders, the unemployment gap between the East and the West

is, since 2005, slowly closing passing from 9,6% to 4,6% in 2014 (MarketLine, 2014). Over the

last 30 years, Germany pass from the “Sick man of Europe” to economic superstar (Dustmann,

2014), by using export as its major economic policy, rising from the ashes over and over again.

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Geography

Germany is located at the heart of Europe and it shares a border with 9 countries which

are France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and

Czech Republic. It also has access to the Baltic and the Nordic sea (WorldAtlas, 2015). Given its

location in the continent, Germany could easily invade many countries at once. On the down side,

it could also get invaded from many different directions as well. Given its location it is only

natural that Germany has had many territorial disputes with its neighbours, especially with

France's Alsace-Lorraine regions, but as of now there are not any major territorial disputes. The

German territory covers 357,022 square km, which makes it the 62nd largest in the world, and the

4th largest in the EU. (WorldAtlas, 2015)

The German landscape can be divided into three parts; the northern part of the country,

the lowlands, which is pretty much flat. The highlands/uplands in the central part of the country,

and finally the Alps in the south.

Resources

Germany is one of the most successful countries when it comes to their renewable sector.

30 % of the country’s electricity comes from renewable energy (Sawin, 2015). The renewable

energy sources act (EEG) was founded in 1991. Their goal was to increase Germany's use of

renewable energy and decrease their use nuclear and coal generated energy. The main sources are

wind, biomass, photovoltaic (solar) and hydro energy. The leading source of renewable energy

was wind power, who generated 9.1 % last year’s electricity. (Production, 2015) Germany's goal

is to reach 45% by 2030 (Sawin, 2015).

Even though Germany has been focusing on improving their renewable sector, coal power

is still the leading energy source. 43.7% (lignite 24.8+hard coal 18.9) of the energy last year was

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generated from coal. Nuclear energy comes second to coal, with 15.5% of last year’s electricity

being generated from this source. (Production, 2015)

The last few years Germany has established this eco-friendly image and are also seen as

such. “Germany is pioneering an epochal transformation it calls the energiewende—an energy

revolution that scientists say all nations must one day complete if a climate disaster is to be

averted.”(Kunzig, 2015)

Although Germany is seen like this, majority of their energy sources derive from non-

renewable fossil fuel such as coal. The use of coal and nuclear energy in Germany for the past 2

years has not gone down. It will be interesting to see if Germany can reach their goal for 2030.

Conclusion

To conclude, Germany as we know it today is very recent. It went through many

important changes after the world war two, mainly in its political system to establish a solid

democracy promoting human rights. During the cold war, it was an important strategic location

for both the communists and the capitalists and its division greatly affected its population. After

the fall of the wall, the country was reunited, creating a disturbing economic and social situation

due to the differences between the East and the West. Since the end of the World War two,

Germany has always been an important and central part of the European integration and still is

one of the most important and powerful member of the European Union. Their economic

structure is one of high quality goods exports demanding a specialised labor force and have

proved to be a very stable and solid structure. Germany is probably one of the great power of our

world, mainly because of its position in the European Union and its great advantages to be in it.

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But, with all the crisis in this union, we can ask ourselves if it will still be the case in some

decades or maybe it will overcome every difficulties it encounters.

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