tically, in reality the Germany today is one of de facto separate-but-equal citizenship. There is no denying that there have been many problems associated with the unification of East and West Germany. The transition from communist state to liberal democracy is a very difficult one, and there is no real way to predict how the German experience will turn out. As Preuss writes, "The transition from an authoritarian political regime and its concomitant command economy to a liberal democracy and a capitalist economy is as unprecedented as the short-term integration of two extremely different societies - one liberal-capitalist, one authoritarian-socialist - into one nation state" (57). In other words, the unification of Germany is one of the most complicated and unprecedented historical events since the unification of Germany....
