ABSTRACT
Following the 1994 federal elections, the eminent Franco-German political scientist Alfred Grosser commented: ‘das Ergebnis zeigt, daß die deutsche Einheit noch nicht vollendet ist’ (the result shows that German Unity is not yet complete) (Focus Wahlspezial 1994: 19). That was a reference to, amongst other things, the very different voting patterns and political cultures between East and West (see Chapter 4). So, despite the numerous changes of the last seven or eight years, which many Germans and outside observers would, on balance, probably view as predominantly positive achievements, two things are quite clear: first, the unification process is still by no means over and, second, Unification brought not only pluses-there were minuses too.
