Through the use of a three-wave panel study of citizens of the former East German city of Leipzig, the article explores the changes in the relationship between socialist values and democratic support over time. It finds that the direct effect of socialist values on democratic satisfaction declines substantially from the 1993-96 portion of the panel study to the 1996-98 period. As individuals acquire more experience with the democratic system, they appear to assess the system less in terms of its relation to socialism and the previous regime, and more in terms of current economic and political performance. Moreover, evaluations of the democratic system themselves appear to influence the individuals' adherence to socialist values throughout the time spanned by the panel studies; in fact, the article shows that there is little direct effect of socialist values on system support by 1998, once the reverse causal process is taken into account. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for democratic development in the former East Germany, and for more general theories and models of the democratization process.
Anderson, C. and C.A. Guillory (1997). “Political Institutions and Satisfaction with Democracy.”American Political Science Review, 91: 66-81.
2.
Anderson, C. and K. O'Connor (2000). “System Change, Learning and Public Opinion About the Economy.”British Journal of Political Science, 30: 147-172.
3.
Bratton, M. and R. Mattes (1999). “Support for Democracy in Africa: Intrinsic or Instrumental?” Afrobarometer Paper Number 1, Michigan State University.
4.
Dalton, R. (1994). “Communists and Democrats: Democratic Attitudes in the Two Germanies.”British Journal of Political Science, 24: 469-493.
5.
Duch, R. (1993). “Tolerating Economic Reform: Popular Support for Transition to a Free Market in the Former Soviet Union.”American Political Science Review, 87: 590-608.
6.
Evans, G. and S. Whitefield (1995). “The Politics and Economics of Democratic Commitment: Support for Democracy in Transitional Societies.”British Journal of Political Science, 25: 485-514.
7.
Finifter, A. and E. Mickiewicz (1992). “Redefining the Political System of the USSR: Mass Support for Political Change.”American Political Science Review, 86: 857-874.
8.
Finkel, S. (1995). Causal Analysis with Panel Data. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.
9.
Finkel, S. , L. Sigelman, and S. Humphries (1999). “Democratic Values and Political Tolerance.” In Measures of Political Attitudes. (J.P. Robinson, P.R. Shaver, and L.S. Wrightman, eds), chap. 5. San Diego: Academic Press.
10.
Fuchs, D. (1999). “The Democratic Culture of Unified Germany.” In Critical Citizens (P. Norris, ed.), pp. 123-145. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
11.
Fuchs, D. , E. Roller, and B. Wessels (1997). “Die Akzeptanz der Demokratie des vereinigten Deutschland.”Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, B51/97: 35-46.
12.
Gibson, J. (1996a). “A Mile Wide but an Inch Deep (?): The Structure of Democratic Commitments in the Former USSR.”American Journal of Political Science, 40: 396-420.
13.
Gibson, J. (1996b). “Political and Economic Markets: Changes in the Connections Between Attitudes Toward Political Democracy and a Market Economy Within the Mass Culture of Russia and Ukraine.”Journal of Politics, 58: 954-984.
14.
Gibson, J.L. , R. Duch, and K. Tedin (1992). “Democratic Values and the Transformation of the Soviet Union.”Journal of Politics, 54: 329-371.
15.
Hofferbert, R. and H.-D. Klingemann (1999). “Remembering the Bad Old Days: Human Rights, Economic Conditions, and Democratic Performance in Transitional Regimes.”European Journal of Political Research, 36: 155-174.
16.
Kaase, M. and H.-D. Klingemann (1994). “The Cumbersome Way to Partisan Orientation in a `New' Democracy: The Case of the Former GDR.” In Elections and Home and Abroad. (K. Jennings, M. Kent and T. Mann, (eds.)). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
17.
Klingemann, H.-D. and R. Hofferbert (1994). “Germany: A New `Wall In the Mind'?”Journal of Democracy, 5: 30-44.
18.
McIntosh, M. and M. MacIver (1992). “Coping with Freedom and Uncertainty: Public Opinion in Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, 1989-1992.”International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 4: 375-391.
19.
Miller, A.H. and O. Listhaug (1999). “Political Performance and Institutional Trust.” In Critical Citizens (P. Norris, ed.), pp. 204-216. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
20.
Mishler, W. and R. Rose (1995). “Trajectories of Fear and Hope: Support for Democracy in Post-Communist Europe.”Comparative Political Studies, 28: 553-581.
21.
Mishler, W. and R. Rose (1997). “Trust, Distrust, and Skepticism: Popular Evaluations of Civil and Political Institutions in Post-Communist Societies.”Journal of Politics, 59: 418-451.
22.
Mishler, W. and R. Rose (1999). “Five Years After the Fall: Trajectories of Support for Democracy in Post-Communist Europe.” In Critical Citizens (P. Norris, ed.), pp. 78-99. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
23.
Muller, E.N. and T.O. Jukam (1977). “On the Meaning of Political Support.”American Political Science Review, 71: 1561-1595.
24.
Muller, E.N. , T.O. Jukam, and M.A. Seligson (1982). “Diffuse Political Support and Antisystem Political Behavior: A Comparative Analysis.”American Journal of Political Science, 26: 240-264.
25.
Muller, E.N. and K.-D. Opp (1986). “Rational Choice and Rebellious Collective Action.”American Political Science Review, 80: 471-488.
26.
Norris, P. (ed.) (1999). Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
27.
Opp, K.-D. (n.d.) “Political Protest in Communist and Postcommunist Societies. The Example of East Germany.” Manuscript, Universität Leipzig.
28.
Opp, K.-D. , P. Voss, and C. Gern (1995). The Origins of a Spontaneous Revolution [East Germany, 1989]. Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press.
29.
Pollack, D. (1997). “Das Bedürfnis nach Sozialer Anerkennung: Der Wandel der Akzeptanz von Demokratie und Marktwirtschaft in Ostdeutschland.”Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, B13: 3-14.
30.
Reisinger, W.M. , A.H. Miller, V.L. Hesli, and K. Maher (1994). “Political Values in Russia, Ukraine and Lithuania: Sources and Implications for Democracy.”British Journal of Political Science, 45: 183-223.
31.
Rohrschneider, R. (1994). “Report from the Laboratory: The Influence of Institutions on Political Elites' Democratic Values in Germany.”American Political Science Review, 88: 927-941.
32.
Rohrschneider, R. (1996). “Institutional Learning Versus Value Diffusion: The Evolution of Democratic Values Among Parliamentarians in Eastern and Western Germany.”Journal of Politics, 58: 442-466.
33.
Rohrschneider, R. (1999). Learning Democracy: Democratic and Economic Values in Unified Germany. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
34.
Rohrschneider, R. (2000). “Transitional Democracies: The East/West German Model.” Paper presented at the conference, “Rethinking Democracy in the New Millennium,”University of Houston, 17-20 February.
35.
Roller, E. (1994). “Ideological Basis of the Market Economy: Attitudes Toward Distributional Principles and the Role of Government in Western and Eastern Germany.”European Journal of Sociology, 10: 105-117.
36.
Rose, R. and W. Mishler (1994). “Mass Reaction to Regime Change in Eastern Europe: Polarization or Leaders and Laggards?”British Journal of Political Science, 24: 159-182.
37.
Rose, R. , W. Mishler, and C. Haerpfer (1998). Democracy and Its Alternatives: Understanding Post-Communist Societies. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
38.
Seligson, M. and J. Booth (1993). “Political Culture and Regime Type: Evidence from Nicaragua and Costa Rica.”Journal of Politics, 55: 777-792.
39.
Toka, G. (1995). “Political Support in East-Central Europe.” In Citizens and the State. (H.-D. Klingemann and D. Fuchs, eds.), pp. 354-382. New York: Oxford University Press.
40.
Trometer, R. and P. Ph. Mohler (1994). “Krise der Politik oder Krise der Demokratie?” In Blickpunkt Gesellschaft 3: Einstellungen und Verhalten der Bundesbürger (M. Braun and P. Ph. Mohler, eds.), pp. 19-40. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.
41.
Weil, F. (1989). “The Sources and Structure of Legitimation in Western Democracies.”American Sociological Review, 54: 682-706.
42.
Weil, F. (1993). “The Development of Democratic Attitudes in Eastern and Western Germany in a Comparative Perspective.”Research on Democracy and Society, vol. 1: Democratization in Eastern and Western Europe. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
43.
Weil, F. (1996). “Western Political Culture and the Consolidation of Democracy in Eastern Germany.” Paper presented at the Eighth International Conference on Socio-Economics, Geneva, 12-14 July.
44.
Westle, B. (1994). “Demokratie und Sozialismus: Politische Ordnungsvorstellungen im vereinten Deutschland zwischen Ideologie, Protest und Nostalgia.”Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 46: 571-596.
45.
Whitefield, S. and G. Evans (1996). “Support for Democracy and Political Opposition in Russia, 1993-1995.”Post-Soviet Affairs, 10: 38-60.
