German Reunification
German reunification was a suitable approach of uniting people from East and West Germany for the nation’s prosperity (Goldfayn-Frank, O., & Wohlfart, 301). The main reason why I support reunification is that the reintegration helped to promote peace among the two regions that conflicted for about 45 years. The reunification promoted economic growth for both regions of the country, leading to creating a stable currency. Through reunification, Germany was able to expand its trade activities by having access to the European market. I support the German reunification because it was associated with several benefits to the people and the growth of the nation.
Counterclaim
It is argued that German reunification was not an appropriate approach because the reintegration did support the equalization of living conditions of people from East and West Germany (Hrzic & Brand, 845). The people in West Germany enjoyed high living standards compare to people from the Eastern region. After the reunification, people from East Germany struggled to improve their standard of living to match people from the Western part of the country. The film “Die Unberührbare” helped to explain a situation caused by German reunification with some people from East Germany getting dissatisfied by the new development. The film is used to tell a story of a middle-aged German writer, Hanna Flanders, who was facing a dilemma between her idealism of East Germany and a quickly changing society involving the reintegration of East and West Germany (“Oskar Roehler – Die Unberührbare,” 00:00:01 – 00:02:42). Another argument that reunification was inappropriate is that reintegration leads to more gains for the East German population. The reunification helped East Germany to benefit from infrastructural development and cultural heritage reconstruction. West Germany was already ahead in terms of economic development, and thus reunification has fewer gains compared to East Germany.
Refuting Counterclaim
I disagree with the counterclaims because reunification led to improvement of the standard of living for both people from both regions of the country (Kowarik, 15). The reunification of Germany involved great political improvisation aiming to create equality in living conditions between the old and the new Federal states (Hrzic & Brand, 845). The approach of promoting parity in the Federal states involved the use of the Solidarity tax. The strategy aimed to promote capital gains, a surcharge on personal income, and corporate income. The main reason for employing the strategy was to increase income for the Federal government. The main objective was to create a suitable environment to enable people to improve the quality of their lives. For instance, the reunification of the nation helped to improve the health of people in East Germany. Improvement of the health of the people led to an increase in Life expectancy in East Germany by about 5.7 years for men and four years for women by the year 2008. By the year 2020, women in East German were enjoying a higher life expectancy compared to those in the West (845). The government of Germany has continued to invest resources generated by top companies such as Porsche, Daimler, and Bosch to support struggling areas in the country to raise their standard of living of people in those regions.
The reunification helped to promote peace between West and East Germany to prevent the death of innocent civilians. The findings of research conducted by Berlin’s Free University helped to establish that 327 people died at borders between former West and East Germany (The Local, 2017). The victims were from West and East Germany, with about 80% of the people being people below the age of 35 years. The researchers involved searching through approximately 1,500 possible cases of deaths that occurred at the border between 1949 and 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell (The Local, 2017). Peace is essential in promoting positive thinking, unity, and collaboration, helping to promote the economic development of the country. The existence of peace in the county facilitates the protection of human rights, thus creating a suitable environment to promote economic activities (Hrzic & Brand, 846).
The German reunification led to the initiation of development programs by the government to support the country’s growth (Ahlfeldt, 123). After reunification, a budget was created for different urban development programs that were jointly financed by the federal states and the federal government. The budget was between $453.1 million to $647.3 million per year (123). There were 22 renewal areas covering approximately 8.1 km2, 5723 plots, and about 81,500 dwelling units. The areas have an average population of 5000 people. The investments were supported through loans, tax reductions, co-financing, and cash advances. By the year 2002, the development programs involved the improvements of the living quality and social infrastructure of the neighborhoods. Significant tax reductions were used to finance private modernizations (123). By 2010, the expenditures comprised approximately 2.62 billion in public investments. The amount allocated for modernization and reinstatement was $1.19 billion, while $873 million was used to support social and infrastructure environment development. Other disbursements included $104 million for preparation costs, $166 million for allowances, $85 million for building measures, and $193 million for regulatory measures, including compensations. The average expenditures were estimated to be 119 million per renewal area (123). The investments were essential for promoting economic growth for both East and West Germany.
Another reason why I support German reunification is that the reintegration led to the creation of a strong currency that helped the county gain from international trade (Goldfayn-Frank, O., & Wohlfart, 301). During the reunification, the central bank of East German handed over sovereignty of its monetary policy to the Bundesbank of West Germany. As a result, the West German mark, Deutschmark, was officially accepted as the nation’s sole legal tender meaning that money deposited in East German banks had to be converted. The introduction of functioning currency as a legal and administrative system created an opportunity for Germany to trade with other European countries. The new currency created stable expectations for consumers and investors. A stable currency helped to attract different stakeholders to invest in different sectors, thus facilitating the continued development of the country. Additionally, gaining access to European markets enabled the country to expand its trade by importing what is not locally available and exporting surplus productions (Goldfayn-Frank, O., & Wohlfart, 306).
Conclusion
German reunification was an appropriate approach because the reunion promoted peace among the two regions, economic growth, and facilitated the creation of a stable currency. The reunification was necessary to promoting parity between the two regions to improve the health and the living standards of people. Unity between East and West Germany stimulated peace to prevent the death of innocent citizens. By enhancing collaboration, leaders and their followers worked together to promote the economic development of the country. The government created development programs to support the country’s economic growth. East and West Germany befitted from social and infrastructure development. Additionally, the reunification led to the creation of a strong currency to improve the participation of the country in international trade. A stronger currency also played an important role in attracting financiers to invest in different sectors.
