This five-year review of the changing political scene in (West) Germany stresses interpretations and perspectives of sympathetic outside observers. Given the dramatic unification of the country and its painful aftermath, the emphasis is on the changing elements of German identity and on postunification problems. Today's emerging perspectives are seen simultaneously in their domestic, including East-West German, and in their international context, with regard to Germany's role in Europe and the world.

Notes on Contributors - Introduction: Reinventing National Identity; P.H.Merkl - PART 1: ELEMENTS OF THE NEW GERMAN IDENTITY - Germany's Image in the New Europe: The Controversy Continues; A.S.Markovits & S.Reich - Germany, Maastricht and Yugoslavia: Altered Identities and Abiding Demarcations: A.J.Heidenheimer - Partners in Leadership? The Future of German-American Relations; G.R.Kleinfeld - Second-Class Citizenship and Its Discontents: Women in the New Germany; J.M.Mushaben - PART 2: EAST GERMAN IDENTITY, AN IRREDUCIBLE RESIDUE? - East German Intellectuals in a Unified Germany; I.Wallace - Shadows of the Past: Germany and the Legacy of SED Rule; H.A.Welsh - What to Do With Communist Bureaucrats from Bureaucratic Communism: The German Case; G.O.Kvistad - Participation and Democracy: Residential Communities in the Former GDR; M.Rueschemeyer - Treuhand: Privatization of a Planned Economy; K.H.Kahrs - PART 3: NEW POLITICAL RULES AND STRUCTURES - The Basic Law and Reunification; D.P.Kommers - Civil Liberties: The Issue of Migrants; G.Braunthal - The Old and the 'New' Federalism in Germany; A.B.Gunlicks - Leadership Change in Eastern Germany: From Colonization to Integration?; T.A.Baylis - PART 4: THE PLAY OF POLITICAL FORCES - The Moderate Right in the German Party System; G.Smith -The German Left: Dilemmas and Uncertainties of Power; A.S.Markovits - The All-German Green Alliance: A Lasting Marriage of Convenience; D.Schoomaker - Reinventing Trade Unionism in Unified Germany: The Domestic and European Challenge; D.Hancock - Immigration Politics and Citizenship in Germany; W.M.Chandler - PART 5: GERMANY'S ROLE IN THE WORLD - The German Architecture for Europe: Military, Political, and Economic Dimensions; J.Sperling - Germany and The European Security Identity; W.J.Feld - A 'Federal Republic of Europe'?; E.J.Kirchner - German Ostpolitik in the 1990s: Anticipating the Post-Soviet Disorder; A.J.McAdams - Conclusion: Are the Old Nazis Coming Back?; P.H.Merkl - Index