Germany disintegrates
During the end of World War II German split into four regions that were occupied by Great Britain, the United States, France and Soviet Union. The western nations merged to form West German as one nation. But, due to ideologies difference, the Soviet Union could not agree with the western oriented nations and thus it created East German (History.com Editors, 2021). West Germany was more of capitalism while the East German was tilted towards socialism. The two regions were not only divided geographically but also economically, politically and socially. The living conditions of the West were more affluent compared to the oppressive East.
German re-unification
The reunification of German started when the Cold War started to melt as a result of the USSR president, Mikhail Gorbachev, establishing friendship with the West and especially his stand on U.S technological advances and financial aid. His move made other nations like Hungary that bordered East German to open their borders for the citizens of East Germany to have entry (German Culture, 2021). This made more East Germany citizens to leave their nation without a thought of going back and the swelling number of mass movement demanded an action to be taken. That is how a capitalist nation, West German, found itself in a process of merging with a socialist nation, East German.
Challenges of unification
The re-unification process had so many challenges that both the nation had to solve as one. These included; economic disparity, different laws and regulations, differing labor practices, social and political issues. One, the economy of West German was well established compared with the East German economy. Although, both economies were had a footing in the industrial production and had a well-trained labor force, the East German had no private property and thus innovation and self-drive was absent (Germany Culture, 2021). This made the East section to lag behind. When the two sectors unified, the East section was not conducive for economic growth due to property ownership issues. There were no infrastructures and other amenities that could attract investors.
This called for the Western Germany commitment to invest its resources in the East in order to achieve a regional economic balance. To achieve economic unification, the West German privatized the East German firms. The Treuhand was established to help in privatizing the East Germany Economy and ensure there were changes in the management of those firms. The Telephone services had to improved, the power shortages that chased investors away had to be fixed and the railroads and roads that were poorly done had to be redone (Germany Culture, 2021).
The second challenge of unification was reaching on common laws and regulations. The two sectors had different legal backgrounds; the East was more communal while the West was capitalist. There was no way the West could do away with the East system of law and impose its principles on the East. A balance had to be sought. This created a room for negotiation of which rules best applied to the two uniting nations and were more acceptable in the global arena. But, this discard and adopt negotiations had to look on other factors like human rights, international treaties, European community laws, among other resolutions (Ebke W, 1990).
The third challenge was on labor practices. The production cost of East German was too high and as a result higher wages were being paid. But, on the West, the production costs were too low and therefore lower wages were being paid. The industries in the West that wanted to expand in the West took advantage of producing their products on the West where the cost of production was lower (Germany Culture, 2021). To unify the two sectors, labor practices had to be made uniform. This was achieved by considering the productivity.
Korea unification challenges
Although, the lessons learnt from German can be applied to unite other split nations. The case of North and South Korea seems to take a different perspective. One, North Korea is allied to China, while, South Korea is allied to U.S. North Korea may choose to have “one country two systems” like the one that exists between China and Hong Kong. This type of unification may not appeal to South Korea. This is because South Korea is democratic, more developed, has a good living environment and fears of what will happen if the people in nuclear industries loses jobs. The later may turn to be a threat to unified Korea (Campbell C, 2018). These reasons make Korea Unification an uphill task.
During the end of World War II German split into four regions that were occupied by Great Britain, the United States, France and Soviet Union. The western nations merged to form West German as one nation. But, due to ideologies difference, the Soviet Union could not agree with the western oriented nations and thus it created East German (History.com Editors, 2021). West Germany was more of capitalism while the East German was tilted towards socialism. The two regions were not only divided geographically but also economically, politically and socially. The living conditions of the West were more affluent compared to the oppressive East.
German re-unification
The reunification of German started when the Cold War started to melt as a result of the USSR president, Mikhail Gorbachev, establishing friendship with the West and especially his stand on U.S technological advances and financial aid. His move made other nations like Hungary that bordered East German to open their borders for the citizens of East Germany to have entry (German Culture, 2021). This made more East Germany citizens to leave their nation without a thought of going back and the swelling number of mass movement demanded an action to be taken. That is how a capitalist nation, West German, found itself in a process of merging with a socialist nation, East German.
Challenges of unification
The re-unification process had so many challenges that both the nation had to solve as one. These included; economic disparity, different laws and regulations, differing labor practices, social and political issues. One, the economy of West German was well established compared with the East German economy. Although, both economies were had a footing in the industrial production and had a well-trained labor force, the East German had no private property and thus innovation and self-drive was absent (Germany Culture, 2021). This made the East section to lag behind. When the two sectors unified, the East section was not conducive for economic growth due to property ownership issues. There were no infrastructures and other amenities that could attract investors.
This called for the Western Germany commitment to invest its resources in the East in order to achieve a regional economic balance. To achieve economic unification, the West German privatized the East German firms. The Treuhand was established to help in privatizing the East Germany Economy and ensure there were changes in the management of those firms. The Telephone services had to improved, the power shortages that chased investors away had to be fixed and the railroads and roads that were poorly done had to be redone (Germany Culture, 2021).
The second challenge of unification was reaching on common laws and regulations. The two sectors had different legal backgrounds; the East was more communal while the West was capitalist. There was no way the West could do away with the East system of law and impose its principles on the East. A balance had to be sought. This created a room for negotiation of which rules best applied to the two uniting nations and were more acceptable in the global arena. But, this discard and adopt negotiations had to look on other factors like human rights, international treaties, European community laws, among other resolutions (Ebke W, 1990).
The third challenge was on labor practices. The production cost of East German was too high and as a result higher wages were being paid. But, on the West, the production costs were too low and therefore lower wages were being paid. The industries in the West that wanted to expand in the West took advantage of producing their products on the West where the cost of production was lower (Germany Culture, 2021). To unify the two sectors, labor practices had to be made uniform. This was achieved by considering the productivity.
Korea unification challenges
Although, the lessons learnt from German can be applied to unite other split nations. The case of North and South Korea seems to take a different perspective. One, North Korea is allied to China, while, South Korea is allied to U.S. North Korea may choose to have “one country two systems” like the one that exists between China and Hong Kong. This type of unification may not appeal to South Korea. This is because South Korea is democratic, more developed, has a good living environment and fears of what will happen if the people in nuclear industries loses jobs. The later may turn to be a threat to unified Korea (Campbell C, 2018). These reasons make Korea Unification an uphill task.
