Becoming one: A comparative study of national unification in Vietnam, Yemen and Germany

The purpose of this research is to understand the dynamic processes of modern national unification cases in Vietnam (1976), Yemen (1990) and Germany (1990) in a qualitative manner within the framework of Amitai Etizoni's political integration theory. There has been little use of this theory in cases of inter-state unification despite its apparent applicability. This study assesses different factors (military force, utilitarian and identitive factors) that influence unification in order to understand which were most supportive of unification and which resulted in a consolidation unification in the early to intermediate stages. In order to answer the above questions, the thesis uses the level of integration as a dependent variable and the various methods of unification as independent variables. The dependent variables are measured as follows: whether unified states were able to protect its territory from potential violence and secessions and to what extent alienation emerged amongst its members. Based on an examination of the case studies, I found the most effective unification mechanism (utilitarian factors and military force) did not, however, necessarily lead to the most successful consolidated unified state. This implies that a successful and consolidated national unification process requires certain levels of identitive factors be shared between the two states. I argue that the most effective and successful factors for unification is a combination of identitive and utilitarian aspects: utilitarian factors are crucial for bringing a relatively quick, peaceful and comprehensive unification process while identitive factors are vital in order to help bind people together during tumultuous unification process.