Political Science

The unification of Germany was taken as a victory for the United States, free market and democracy. For a long time the United States of America government had supported the Western Germany efforts to unify Germany though it was at first cautious in approaching the whole issue. With the fall of communism and diminishing of soviet influence in Eastern Europe, United States was gaining tremendous influence on this region. Eastern Germany was warming up to western ideals and great changes were taking place in this front. The unification of two sides was eminent the changes that were taking place in eastern Germany signaled that the people were strongly in favor of the unification as a means of ending some of the problems they faced. For United States this turn of events presented an opportunity where the influence would be exerted to the other iron curtain nation in Eastern Europe and began a democratization process. (Garthoff, R 1994)

The process of unification was quicker than the Western nations had anticipated. The other western powers wanted the process to be gradual so that important issues regarding their future relations with a unified German could be iron out. United States, France and Britain supported the unification but on the other hand expressed fears on the dangers that this union posed given the history of this country and the instability in the world. United States on its part (Pummerin, R 1997)

The unification of Germany presented both advantages and challenges to the world and United States in particular.First, in economical terms benefits were enormous, the trade between western Germany and United States were on an all time high. With the eastern part of the country joining the larger picture the market for the American goods had been expanded creating an opportunity for the American business to venture in to the region which has been under the influence of the communism for quite a long time. A unified Germany created an opportunity through which the rest of the communist nations in Eastern Europe would be democratized and good governance instituted in the region as a whole. (Kennedy, M 1994)

There were fears that the unification of Germany would pose a big threat to the world peace, this emanated from the history of Germany as a nation and the role it had played in destabilizing the region in the past. Particularly, United States was worried that the Soviet Union might entice Germany to withdraw for NATO through offering some type of controlled unification of the two sides. The American government was faced with a situation where they could not oppose the unification as it was peaceful and lied within the democratic frameworks. The response of the American government was offensive it decided to support the reunification on its own terms. The terms had to favorable to democracy as well as serve the interest of United States. (Haftendon, H 2006)

The reunification of Germany presented United States with an opportunity to exert its authority and power and the backdrop of diminishing communism influence. Most of the communist nations were rejecting soviet policies, its influence was quickly waning as more nations in the regions were slowly warming up to  am more open system which was characterized by the western powers. (Maier, C 1997)

Twenty years down the line the reunification has stood the test of time, the fears expressed by France and Britain as far as a united Germany is concerned have been addressed. Though some of the expectations concerning the benefits of a united Germany republic have not been realized the reunification of the two countries opened a new chapter for the two sides and Europe at large. Iron curtains came tumbling and America democratization process of the region gained prominence. The reunification process was a positive move for the Germans and American, on the same note it posed serious questions as far as region security was concerned.