ABSTRACT
Germany today is marked by the huge impacts of the post-war era, in which the country was divided into two states fronting opposing political blocs. Until 1989, the concept of rurality had a different meaning in each part of Germany and was linked to contrasting political objectives and sets of policy measures. Unification had a significant impact on mobility trends. Nationally there developed a dominant migration pattern from East to West. Significant changes in social structures due to migration processes and changing occupation structures have shaped rural life in recent decades. In post-war West Germany, the influx of millions of refugees caused a significant population increase in rural areas. Post-1945, East Germany faced similar problems with the integration of refugees from former German territories. These structural and institutional conditions help to explain why regionality appears to be more important than any discourse on rurality for understanding the dynamics of leadership, local power and development in Germany today.
