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

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  • Rohrschneider, Robert

Abstract

The unification of Germany revives several questions about the future of Germany's democracy. Given the socialist-authoritarian background, how supportive are East Germany's elites of liberal democratic rights? Has the socialist-democratic experience instilled into elites a social egalitarian conception of democracies? In what ways, if at all, do elites support direct democracy procedures? I examine political elites' conceptions of democracies in the united Germany in 1991, using a survey of 168 parliamentarians from the united parliament in Berlin. I find that the socialist and parliamentary institutions in the East and the West, respectively, have substantially influenced elites' conceptions of democracies in Germany, leading to a value divergence across the East-West boundary. Yet the findings also suggest that a partial value convergence in terms of liberal democratic rights among postwar elites has taken place. The results support an institutional learning theory, but they also suggest that support for liberal democratic values has been diffused into East Germany.

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  • Rohrschneider, Robert, 1994. "Report from the Laboratory: The Influence of Institutions on Political Elites' Democratic Values in Germany," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 88(4), pages 927-941, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:88:y:1994:i:04:p:927-941_09
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    Cited by:

    1. Fuchs, Dieter, 1998. "The political culture of unified Germany," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Institutions and Social Change FS III 98-204, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    2. Li Huang & Oliver Zhen Li & Baiqiang Wang & Zilong Zhang, 2022. "Individualism and the fight against COVID-19," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-20, December.
    3. Welzel, Christian, 1998. "Vom Konsens zum Dissens? Politische Ordnungspräferenzen von Eliten und Bürgern im ost-westdeutschen Vergleich," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Institutions and Social Change FS III 98-201, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    4. Hooghe, Liesbet, 1997. "Serving 'Europe' Political Orientations of Senior Commission Officials," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 1, April.

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