Die andere deutsche Republik

German unification and the continuity of discontinuities: Cultural change and the far right in east and west

“…28 The concept of political culture implies, however, that the culture of a society cannot simply be remade and implemented by whatever political leadership is ruling. Thus, a particular difficulty for the new regimes in post-war eastern Europe was 'to articulate [the] revolutionary vision while simultaneously adapting elements of the past and adjusting to social pressures derived from economic and developmental imperatives'/ 9 The cross-pressures resulting from traditional political culture, the emerging structures of an increasingly differentiated, post-revolutionary and industrialising society and the official ideology implemented by the socialist leadership affected all of the Eastern Bloc countries.…”

Report from the Laboratory: The Influence of Institutions on Political Elites' Democratic Values in Germany

“…By the mid-1970s, analysts of public opinion and political elites alike began to document the growing acceptance of democratic values, especially among citizens born during the postwar years (Baker, Dalton, and Hildebrandt 1981;Loewenberg 1973, 1974;Hoffmann-Lange 1985;Kaase 1971;Kuechler 1992). In East Germany, while Communist party elites could partly benefit from the authoritarian traditions in German society (Dahrendorf 1967), the task was to imbue East Germans with socialist ideals (Glaessner 1989). Although the developments in East Germany are less well documented than those in West Germany, initial analyses seem to indicate that the East German system was at least partially successful in achieving this goal (Bauer 1991;Friedrich 1990;Noelle-Neumann 1991).…”

“…Therefore, the effect of institutional learning should reflect generational differences within West Germany but not in East Germany (Eckstein 1988 The socialist system in East Germany permanently exposed East German citizens to an ideology that closely linked a democracy to the egalitarian distribution of economic goods. This ideological message was reinforced in schools or through the minimal opportunity to own private property (Glaessner 1989; Rueschemeyer and Lemke 1989):…”