ABSTRACT
The Oberlausitz is a border region located in the south of eastern Germany. It shares borders with the Czech Republic in the south and Poland in the east. During the last decades the Oberlausitz Region has been affected by German reunification and also by three major socio-economic processes: globalization, Europeanization and post-socialist transition. These overlapping processes have significantly affected demographic development, the regional economy and the natural environment, bringing opportunities and challenges for the development of the region. This chapter gives an overview of the socio-economic characteristics of the Oberlausitz Region and presents regional distinctions as well as current trends and developments. As a consequence of out-migration the regional economy has to struggle with an increasing lack of an educated and skilled workforce. The chapter states that the Oberlausitz has been affected by several contemporaneous processes which overlap in complex ways. The Oberlausitz has to develop a strategy for a post-lignite era.
