Raumentwicklung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland nach der Wiedervereinigung und bei fortschreitender europäischer Integration

Abstract

Within only about two years the presumably greatest experiment of the modern economic history ran into a crisis; namely the integration of a free-market system which ranks a top position in the western world, with the relatively most developped planned economy of the former East Block. In part the faced difficulties are doubtlessly due to the underestimation of the complex nature of changeover and of the adaptation processes. However, an important part also plays the coincidence of political, economical and technological processes which in the middle of the most critical reunification phases decisively changed the locational conditions in Germany: progressive economical and in part also political integration of Europe, namely the "double opening" to the West and to the East through the domestic EU market and the change of system in the reform states, change of the competition conditions on the worldwide factor and sales markets ("New Industrial Division of Labor") as well as fundamental innovations in technology and organisation. In the presented paper it is tried to assess the repercussions that the German integration and the in line therewith running and at least in part "contraproductive" European and worldwide processes have on the regional development of the old and new states. This is underlined by the hypothesis that the regional development in the reunified Germany substantially depends on the destiny of the industry as the still by far most important regions' "export basis". As reference basis for the considerations on the regional development in Germany the author first presents a theoretical concept for the industrial structures of states and regions and/or for their fundamental change patterns. This is taken as basis for analyses of the change in locational and production conditions for the most important lead branches of the West-German industry as well as of the deindustrialisation process in the East. As further great influence factors of the regional development consideration has to be given to forseeable concept changes of the regional economic policy as well as to the regional repercussions of the progressive European integration. Finally all, on these arguments based principles of future regional development are outlined.