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Communists and Democrats: Democratic Attitudes in the Two Germanies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2009

Extract

German unification has revived earlier scholarly debates about the nature of the German political culture and the ability of the nation to rise above its cultural heritage – now focused on the cultural inheritance from the German Democratic Republic. This article examines popular support for democratic attitudes as a prerequisite for successful political unification and the development of democracy in a unified Germany. Our evidence focuses on a study of democratic attitudes conducted in West Germany and East Germany by the Mannheim Research Unit for Societal Development in early 1990, with supplemental data from more recent surveys. We find that East Germans voice support for democratic attitudes that rivals or excels the expression of democratic norms in the West. The correlates of these opinions suggest that democratic norms in the East developed from an on-going process of counter-cultural socialization and from judgements about the relative economic strength of the Federal Republic.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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29 The lowest support for democratic values is expressed by individuals who have completed the ten-year polytechnic course or those who have not completed even primary schooling.

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