The Process of the Regional Differentiation of the West German Economy and the History of the Navigation of the Rhine After World War II

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The reconstruction process of the navigation system of the Rhine after World War II illustrates that of the West European economy, especially of the West German economy. The two international organizations are concerned in the former process, i. e. the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine and the Union of the West European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, both of which have close relationship with such institutions as E C, E F T A, and the Council of Europe. The reconstruction process of the Rhine navigation has been promoted through various national and international programmes such as deepening of the Lower Rhine, construction of the Rhine-Scheldt- Canal, navigablcness of the Mosel, exploitation of the Saar, lengthening of the Rhine lane upstream from Basel, exploitation of the Danube, construction of the both great lane Rhine-Main-Danube and Rhine-Rhone. These programmes are especially integrated into the regional policy system of West Germany and have contributed to its stable and balanced economic development. This process has produced, however, double regional dynamics in West Germany, i. e. the formation of border regions (regio or euregio) Which combine areas on both sides of the state borderline along the Rhine river axis and the regional differentiation between the Southern and the Northern West Germany ( the South-North-Gap). The both space dynamics do not directly link up each other on the same dimension, but they are to be interpreted as phenom ena within the historical space structure of the modern Germany economy, i. e. the Proto-economic spaces such as the Southwestern, Northwestern and Middle German Economic Space.