Learning Democracy: Democratic and Economic Values in Unified GermanyThe fall of the Berlin wall raised many questions about Germany and post-socialist countries. Given East Germany's authoritarian history, how democratic are its citizens now? What kind of democracy do they want a liberal or socialist democracy? What economic system do they prefer? How have they reacted to democratic and market systems since 1989? The book shows how individual institutional learning may be offset by the diffusion of democratic values. The author uses public opinion surveys to compare attitudes of MPs and the general public, and in-depth interviews with parliamentarians in east, and west Berlin to show the persistence of socialist views in the east as well as lower levels of political tolerance. Moreover, the book argues, these values have changed fairly littlesince unification. The author presents evidence and develops implications for other post-socialist nations, arguing that while post-socialist citizens do not yearn for the old socialist order, their socialist values frequently lower enthusiasm for new democratic and market institutions. The implications being that ideological values are primarily shaped by individual exposure to institutions and that democratic and market values are diffused only in specific conditions. More than just an analysis of German political culture, the book offers conpelling conclusions about the future of democracy in all post-socialist states. Robert Rohrschneider won the Stein Rokkan Prize for best book in comparative politics by a young scholar awarded by the International Social Science Committee of UNESCO. |
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Learning Democracy: Democratic and Economic Values in Unified Germany Robert Rohrschneider No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
Allbus analyses authoritarian basic Berlin beta Bündnis 90/Greens CDU-MPs cent Chapter citizens citizenship-qualities civil liberties coefficients communists conflicts of interests context contrast cracy cratic culturalists demo democracy democratic ideals democratic institutions democratic restraint democratic rights democratic values develop diffusion axiom Direct democracy disliked groups East East Germany East-Central Europe East-West differences eastern and western eastern elites eastern Germans eastern MPs economic values egalitarian egalitarian ideals elite level endorse extremist fascists Germany's ideological values indicator individuals influence institutional learning axiom institutional support institutional trust institutionalists least-liked group liberal democracy liberal-democratic rights logical values market system mass level mass publics mass-elite parliament parliamentary party performance evaluations plebiscitarian pluralism political elites political process political system political tolerance positive Postmaterialism representative responses social equality social market economy social-egalitarian socialist ideals society substantially support for democratic surveys Table unification value diffusion variables views West western MPs western public