Left behind: The social democratic party in Eastern Germany |
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| Authors: | Stephen J. Silvia |
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| Affiliation: | Assistant Professor at the School of International Service , American University , Washington DC |
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| Abstract: | Four long‐term structural complications have prevented the Social Democratic Party of Germany from establishing a large party membership in eastern Germany since unification: the injurious legacy of Nazi and communist rule, the contradictions that arose in the 1980s out of the SPD's Ostpolitik, the flawed birth and development of the eastern SPD, and continuing tensions between the eastern and western wings of the party. Since none of these structural problems is likely to change quickly, the SPD will remain impaired in the East for the foreseeable future. This in turn will make it extremely difficult for the SPD to win federal elections. |
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