This paper is to examine the decision-making process and various institutional engagements for the relocation of the German capital to Berlin and to identify its geographical implications. Germany had faced many difficult problems in the way of the na...
This paper is to examine the decision-making process and various institutional engagements for the relocation of the German capital to Berlin and to identify its geographical implications. Germany had faced many difficult problems in the way of the national reunification, but achieved it peacefully. Just after the unification, the new location of the capital(Bundeshauptstadt) for the united Germany between the authentic capital `Berlin` and the real democratic capital `Bonn` was intensely discussed in the parliament as well as in public. Finally Berlin was chosen for the new location by the decision of the parliament and during the ten years after the decision, the German government tried to prepare all the requirements for the capital relocation. The physical relocation of the capital came to an end with the move of both the parliament and the administration to Berlin in september of 1999. However, its political, economic, and sociopsychological impacts still remain strong and are likely to continue. This relocation could symbolize the national identity building through the real integration between East Berlin and West Berlin as well as between East Germany and West Germany. It is, furthermore, closely related to the geo-political and geo-economic roles of Germany in a new European constellation in the post-Cold War era.