German regional policy has changed from a strategy of redistribution to a regional growth focused policy- strategies, which are often seen as opposites. Both policies, however, still have to relate to the constitutional objective “to achieve equal living conditions for the country’s citizens.”

This paper examines what effects a political change may have had on the interpretation of the German constitutional objective. Its aim is to examine German regional policy and its relationship to justice, using John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice. My research is a critcal ideology analysis, made up of a qualitative text analysis of the German government’s last annual report on the German reunification. I will also discuss whether there is any evidence of this change of policy- mentioned above- in the annual report. My conclusion is that there is some evidence of this change of policy in the report, and that the government is still very aware of the constitutional objective, though it interprets it differently today. Today there is a stronger political focus on creating growth and on trying to secure the welfare state. The government is focusing on a policy, which aims to secure a high- though most likely unequal- standard of living, rather than on one that would only be able to guarantee a low, but more equal, standard of living.