Environmentalism and democracy in the two Germanies

This article compares the impact of environmentalism on democratisation in the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic and analyses the role of environmental groups in the unification process. In both countries, environmentalists contributed to democratisation by challenging the established state‐society relationship. However, despite common themes, the movements in east and west did not communicate well with each other, nor did grassroots environmental concerns figure prominently in unification. Their disunity lies partly in the movements’ different understanding of democracy, revealed in the attitudes toward technology and in definitions of the proper relationship between citizen and state. The differences indicate that despite their relatively brief separation, the two Germanies have diverged culturally.