Welfare State and Political Culture in Unified Germany

This paper addresses the assertion that preferences for a comprehensive welfare state hamper and delay the emergence of a liberal-democratic culture in East Germany. Two questions are explored: first, has the impact of welfare-state values on support of the German democratic regime declined in East Germany since re-unification and adapted to the lower levels observed in West Germany? Second, are attitudes towards different welfare-state programmes equally important for citizens’ approval of the German democratic regime? Empirical analyses on the basis of representative public opinion surveys conducted between 1991 and 2012 confirm that the effect of welfare-state values in East Germany has converged to the smaller effect size observed in West Germany. Furthermore, attitudes to welfare-state programmes aimed at reducing income inequalities turn out to be a significant determinant of regime support in both parts of Germany. It is the higher demand for inequality-reducing governmental activities which still restrains the approval of the liberal-democratic regime among citizens in East Germany.     

The Civic Culture and Unified Germany: An Overview

In this article we attempt to examine what has happened to the Civic Culture paradigm in the past 50 years with particular focus on Germany. We first discuss the impact of the research and its core findings for the Federal Republic. Second, we focus on the issue of ‘inner unity’. Third, we present data on the development of unified Germany's political culture since the 1990 unification. We examine the influence over time of the major explanatory variables that have been central to post-unification culture research: socialisation or the effect of the socialist past, the contrasting economic experiences of both regions during the early decades of their democratic existence and the role of identity politics in shaping each region's view of each other. Finally, this article contends that in spite of the cultural differences there is a consensus on the institutions, processes and values of political democracy in the unified Republic.     

Political citizenship in Britain and Germany

A return to the theoretical wots of the concept of political citizenship justifies extending our attention to institutions outside the strictly political sphere. Social institutions in countries with corporatist histories, like Germany, remain important not only to the attainment of social citizenship but also to the exercise of political voice. Because the means of voice in Germany and Britain, or political citizenship, are the products of unique historical trajectories, the challenge of European integration is conceptually distinct for each. Thus, path dependent processes of democratisation may affect not just the likelihood but the normative significance of future choices.     

The Role of the Internet in Political Campaigns in Germany

The Internet has become an important infrastructure for political campaigns around the world, and various online tools have become pervasive campaigning devices. Still, most research on the role of the Internet and online tools in political campaigns focuses on US presidential campaigns. Due to the specific institutional context in the US, this research might not provide realistic observations about the role of the Internet in future campaigns in other countries. Researchers will have to enrich the debate through systematic studies of the role of the Internet and various online services in campaigns in political, legal and cultural contexts different from those prevailing in the US. This special issue aims to add to the discussion by presenting a number of empirical studies focusing on the role of the Internet and various online services during the campaign for the German federal election of 2009 and its aftermath.     

The German solidarity pact: A case study in the politics of the Unified Germany

The political process in the old Federal Republic was distinguished by all‐pervasive negotiations and an orientation towards consensus, as indicated by the concepts of ‘co‐operative federalism’, ‘co‐operative opposition’ and ‘neo‐corporatism’ frequently used to describe relations between the federation and the state governments, between the federal government and opposition, and between the federal government and organised economic interests. Some observers expected German unification to lead to fundamental changes in these traits. This study of the negotiations which took place over a ‘Solidarity Pact’ between September 1992 and March 1993 concludes that, far from the political process of the old Federal Republic having been transformed by unification, its distinguishing traits appear rather to have been reinforced. It argues that, whilst there will be no second Solidarity Pact, cooperation and compromise will remain more pervasive in the politics of the unified Germany than confrontation and polarisation.     

State Socialism in Australian Political Thought: A Reconsideration

In understanding the origins of conventional tenets in political thought, we should attend to cross‐spectrum analysis of usage. Taking state socialism as an instance, this paper argues that the practice of treating it historically either as an element within a radical tradition (by Labour historians) or as a discredited part of a socialist agenda (by liberals) ignores the ways in which it was it was deployed across the political spectrum. Outsiders (such as the Webbs and Métin) skewed the record, describing the pragmatic accommodations they saw as “socialism without doctrines”, unconscious of the debates amongst Australian political elites. We need to explore anew where ideas came from, how they were taken up and adapted in the Australian context (by all sides) and the circumstances that determined their duration within everyday discourse.     

华人参政与印尼政治文化革新

本文首先叙述了苏哈托统治时期,印尼华人在政治生活和文化心理上所受到的沉重打击,然后对"五月骚乱"后印尼华人的参政情况作了介绍.文章还从内外两个方面分析了印尼华人对政治生活不够积极的原因,其内因是印尼华人结构复杂,没有形成统一的族群意识,其外因是印尼政治仍有歧视华人倾向,印尼政治文化有待革新.     

The 1968 Movement Revisited: Education and the Distinction in Values,Political Interest and Political Participation in West Germany

The aim of this paper is to take a look at the 1968 generation in West Germany about 40 years after the 1968 events. Whether there was a 1968 generation in the narrow sense of the word will be explored. While comparing the 1968 generation with earlier and later cohorts, political interest, political activity and (postmaterialist) values will be analysed. Education will be theorised as a main mechanism that distinguishes the 1968 generation from earlier generations. Quantitative analyses will be performed employing a temporal perspective and including age, period and cohort effects – so that socialisation as well as individual change over the life cycle and macro influences can be taken into account. The results show a strong influence of education on political interest, political activity and postmaterialism. Therefore, what is called the ‘1968 generation’ only applies to the more highly educated people of this generation.     

Political Culture, Konrad Adenauer, and the Reunification of Germany: an Attempt at Sorting Out a Number of Problems in a Current Debate.

Alfred Heuss, Versagen und Verhaengnis, Vom Ruin deutscher Geschichte und ihres Verstaendnisses (Failure and Disaster, On the Ruin of German History and its Comprehension), Berlin: Siedler, 1984, 213 pp.; Herbert Ammon and Theodor Schweisfurth, Friedensvertrag, Deutsche Konfoederation, Europaeisches Sicherheitssystem (Peace Treaty, German Confederacy, European Security System), Starnberg: IBF Verlag, 1985, 95 pp.;
Hans-Peter Schwarz, Die gezaehmten Deutschen, von der Machtbesessenheit zur Machtvergessenheit (The Tamed Germans, From the Obsession with Power to the Oblivion of Power), Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1985, 191 pp.;
Hans-Peter Schwarz, Adenauer, Der Aufstieg: 1876–1952 (Adenauer, The Rise: 1876–1952). Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1986, 1021 pp.;
Dieter Blumenwitz and Boris Meissner (eds.), Die Uebenvindung der europaeischen Teilung und die deutsche Frage (The Surmounting of the Division of Europe and the German Question), Cologne: Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, 1986, 143 pp.;
Wolfgang Seiffert, Das ganze Deutschland, Perspektiven der Wiedervereinigung (The Whole Germany, Perspectives of Re-Unification), Munich-Zurich: Piper, 1986, 377 pp.     

Natural Disasters and Political Participation: Evidence from the 2002 and 2013 Floods in Germany

How do natural disasters affect electoral participation? The existing social science literature offers contradictory predictions. A considerable body of research in sociology and psychology suggests that traumatic events can inspire pro-social behaviour, which might increase turnout. Yet, political science has long held that even minor changes to participation costs of low benefit activities can lead to considerable drops in civic engagement. Consequently, natural disasters should reduce electoral participation. We show how these distinct views can be jointly analysed within the Riker–Ordeshook model of voting. This paper then reports results on the impact of the 2002 and 2013 floods in Germany on turnout in federal and state elections in Saxony and Bavaria, conducted few weeks after the floods. Analysing community level turnout data, and drawing on a difference-in-differences framework, we find that flood exposure has a consistent negative effect on turnout. This indicates that the increase in the costs of voting outweighed any increase in political engagement in our case and stands in contrast to findings from developing contexts, where flood management was convincingly linked to electoral participation.     

Letter-writing and Transnational Activism on Behalf of Indonesian Political Prisoners: Gatot Lestario and his Legacy

Amnesty International estimated in 1977 that between 600,000 and 750,000 Indonesians had been or were still imprisoned as a result of the Army-led anti-communist violence in Indonesia in the mid-1960s. This article charts the relationship between members of Amnesty International and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) with a political prisoner on death row in East Java, Gatot Lestario, a former leader of the Indonesian Communist Party. This article draws on the letters he wrote over a period of three years before his execution in 1985 and interviews with his pen pals. It traces the ways in which he encouraged his pen pals to advocate for human rights in Indonesia and their responses, as well as his own involvement in political prisoner advocacy. This case study illustrates the disappearance of Indonesia's previously close and solidary relationship with the socialist world and its replacement at the people-to-people level with human rights activism involving Western activists. This is particularly evident in the increasingly important role played by members of Amnesty International, the Quakers and other overseas organizations concerned with Indonesia. Finally, the article assesses Gatot Lestario's impact, after his execution, on the development of a long-term advocacy network for Indonesia's political prisoners.     

菲律宾政治文化的发展过程及其特点

笔者在本文中以广义的政治文化的概念为基石 ,尝试性地将菲律宾的政治文化发展过程主要分成三个阶段 :早期政治文化、殖民地政治文化和独立后的政治文化。早期政治文化是菲律宾在东方文化的影响下形成的带有“个人权威”色彩的政治文化源头 ;殖民地政治文化是菲律宾在西班牙的殖民统治下 ,宗教作为一种文化现象对菲律宾政治文化的影响 ;独立后的政治文化是菲律宾在 1946年以后以政党政治为主要特点的政治文化。笔者从菲律宾的传统文化的特点出发 ,考察菲律宾政治发展过程和文化发展过程 ,总结菲律宾政治文化的特点 ,并从菲律宾现实的政治行为找出菲律宾政治文化的表现形式 ,从而为了解菲律宾政治运作方式提供一个新的视角。     

Social Capital and Political Support: A Reassessment of the Putnam Thesis in East and West Germany

A sizeable scholarly literature has generally uncovered weak, statistically trivial connections between social capital and political support, in spite of its logical appeal. Much of this research, however, has adopted an overly restrictive research design. It has overwhelmingly focused on the impact of social trust on political trust, from which broad inferences about the utility of the social capital perspective have been made. Rarely, however, has the impact of social capital been systematically assessed on indicators of political support which are more diffuse in character. Using data drawn from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS), the present study analyses the impact of different measures of social capital on political support in the Federal Republic of Germany. The results strongly support the conclusion that social capital influences diffuse support.     

Political Order in Occupied Societies 1 : Realist Lessons from Germany and Japan

Abstract

The American occupations of Germany and Japan have many lessons to offer the United States today as it contemplates creating new political orders in Afghanistan and Iraq. The lessons that are to be drawn are not, however, the ones that are usually drawn by the current administration and others. First and foremost, a systematic comparison with the German and Japanese experiences clearly shows that the preconditions for democratization are not present in the contemporary cases, suggesting that the United States needs to recalibrate its objectives. Instead of seeking democratization, the United States should try first to create stability, even as it creates at least the institutional forms on which a more pluralistic political system can eventually be erected. The U.S. experience with state building in the Philippines and South Korea may be more relevant today than the German and Japanese cases. Other lessons that can be drawn from the German and Japanese as well as other past U.S. experiences with occupying countries include: the importance of finding a common threat that can unite enough indigenous elites that order can be established; integrating the new states into regional systems; and perhaps most importantly, using the instruments of transitional justice (trials, purges, censorship, etc.) in a fashion calculated to rehabilitate and incorporate supporters of the old regimes while delivering a modicum of justice.