Pub Date : 2022-05-17DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2058494
Lars Vogel
This article asks whether the persistent descriptive underrepresentation of East Germans in Germany’s elite positions contributes to lower levels of political support in Eastern Germany. Based on a population survey including a survey experiment, it shows that citizens in both parts of Germany perceive a descriptive underrepresentation of East Germans. This perception remains stable, even when new information is provided. It is, however, not an attitudinal prejudice about decoupled elites but also based on citizens’ cognitions. Citizens assess this underrepresentation negatively drawing on its negative impact on legitimacy, efficiency, and substantive and symbolic representation. The interaction of perception and negative assessment decreases political support for community, regime and institutions. The perceived impairment of legitimacy and symbolic representation fuels the withdrawal of support more strongly than impaired efficiency and substantive representation. Since both East and West Germans’ political support is connected to descriptive representation, self-interest and sociotropic considerations are relevant. The contribution confirms that the descriptive underrepresentation of East Germans is one determinant of the lower levels of political support for democracy in Eastern Germany impairing the efficiency and legitimacy of democracy in the entire country.
{"title":"(How) Perceived Descriptive Underrepresentation Decreases Political Support: The Case of East Germans","authors":"Lars Vogel","doi":"10.1080/09644008.2022.2058494","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2022.2058494","url":null,"abstract":"This article asks whether the persistent descriptive underrepresentation of East Germans in Germany’s elite positions contributes to lower levels of political support in Eastern Germany. Based on a population survey including a survey experiment, it shows that citizens in both parts of Germany perceive a descriptive underrepresentation of East Germans. This perception remains stable, even when new information is provided. It is, however, not an attitudinal prejudice about decoupled elites but also based on citizens’ cognitions. Citizens assess this underrepresentation negatively drawing on its negative impact on legitimacy, efficiency, and substantive and symbolic representation. The interaction of perception and negative assessment decreases political support for community, regime and institutions. The perceived impairment of legitimacy and symbolic representation fuels the withdrawal of support more strongly than impaired efficiency and substantive representation. Since both East and West Germans’ political support is connected to descriptive representation, self-interest and sociotropic considerations are relevant. The contribution confirms that the descriptive underrepresentation of East Germans is one determinant of the lower levels of political support for democracy in Eastern Germany impairing the efficiency and legitimacy of democracy in the entire country.","PeriodicalId":46640,"journal":{"name":"German Politics","volume":"32 1","pages":"169 - 190"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48988455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-11DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2070611
L. Massicotte
{"title":"Do Court Decisions and Redistribution Rules Have Consequences? Malapportionment of German Single-Member Electoral Districts","authors":"L. Massicotte","doi":"10.1080/09644008.2022.2070611","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2022.2070611","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46640,"journal":{"name":"German Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48749658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-11DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2072489
Florian Böller
{"title":"Fuelling Politicisation: The AfD and the Politics of Military Interventions in the German Parliament","authors":"Florian Böller","doi":"10.1080/09644008.2022.2072489","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2022.2072489","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46640,"journal":{"name":"German Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42326146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-18DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2044473
Manès Weisskircher, Swen Hutter, Endre Borbáth
This paper studies party-movement interactions in Germany, focusing on Die Linke and the AfD, the two most recent additions to Germany’s multi-party system. The electoral rise of both challenger parties went along with mass protests, opposition to Hartz IV in the mid-2000s and anti-Islamic PEGIDA mobilisation in the mid-2010s. We shift the emphasis from how social movements turn into political parties, including significant organisational and personal overlap, to more indirect ways of how protest and electoral politics interact. Specifically, we identify a process composed of two interrelated mechanisms: an external politicisation spiral and an intra-party innovation spiral. We show how mass protest triggers both discursive shifts in the public sphere and internal strategic realignment, providing an opportunity for parties to ride the wave, secure their competitive advantages, and mobilise on the protestors’ grievances in the electoral arena. In such a way, challenger parties can take advantage of street protests even when they do not directly emerge from a movement. Methodologically, the article is based on a paired comparison, relying on survey data and an original protest event analysis that provides novel data on anti-Hartz IV and PEGIDA protest mobilisation in Germany.
{"title":"Protest and Electoral Breakthrough: Challenger Party-Movement Interactions in Germany","authors":"Manès Weisskircher, Swen Hutter, Endre Borbáth","doi":"10.1080/09644008.2022.2044473","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2022.2044473","url":null,"abstract":"This paper studies party-movement interactions in Germany, focusing on Die Linke and the AfD, the two most recent additions to Germany’s multi-party system. The electoral rise of both challenger parties went along with mass protests, opposition to Hartz IV in the mid-2000s and anti-Islamic PEGIDA mobilisation in the mid-2010s. We shift the emphasis from how social movements turn into political parties, including significant organisational and personal overlap, to more indirect ways of how protest and electoral politics interact. Specifically, we identify a process composed of two interrelated mechanisms: an external politicisation spiral and an intra-party innovation spiral. We show how mass protest triggers both discursive shifts in the public sphere and internal strategic realignment, providing an opportunity for parties to ride the wave, secure their competitive advantages, and mobilise on the protestors’ grievances in the electoral arena. In such a way, challenger parties can take advantage of street protests even when they do not directly emerge from a movement. Methodologically, the article is based on a paired comparison, relying on survey data and an original protest event analysis that provides novel data on anti-Hartz IV and PEGIDA protest mobilisation in Germany.","PeriodicalId":46640,"journal":{"name":"German Politics","volume":"32 1","pages":"538 - 562"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47881004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-18DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2062326
Wolfgang Schroeder, Samuel Greef, Jennifer Ten Elsen, Lukas Heller
ABSTRACT This article examines interventions by the populist radical right in German civil society and responses from established organisations in three areas: work, religion and sport. The empirical results indicate that the populist radical right intervenes by attacking established actors for being part of the institutional arrangement and by reinterpreting existing conflicts according to a populist logic. The interventions follow from a combination of opportunity structures (path-dependent lines of conflict within specific areas) and windows of opportunity (such as via events that attract great public attention). The responses by civil society organisations are situational and oscillate between value-based demarcation and content-based confrontation. Therefore, civil society faces the challenge of acting not as a gateway but as a protective factor against right-wing populism by developing strategies of resilience.
{"title":"Interventions by the Populist Radical Right in German Civil Society and the Search for Counterstrategies","authors":"Wolfgang Schroeder, Samuel Greef, Jennifer Ten Elsen, Lukas Heller","doi":"10.1080/09644008.2022.2062326","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2022.2062326","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines interventions by the populist radical right in German civil society and responses from established organisations in three areas: work, religion and sport. The empirical results indicate that the populist radical right intervenes by attacking established actors for being part of the institutional arrangement and by reinterpreting existing conflicts according to a populist logic. The interventions follow from a combination of opportunity structures (path-dependent lines of conflict within specific areas) and windows of opportunity (such as via events that attract great public attention). The responses by civil society organisations are situational and oscillate between value-based demarcation and content-based confrontation. Therefore, civil society faces the challenge of acting not as a gateway but as a protective factor against right-wing populism by developing strategies of resilience.","PeriodicalId":46640,"journal":{"name":"German Politics","volume":"32 1","pages":"585 - 604"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49527834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-14DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2061463
Sylvia Veit
This paper investigates to what extent East Germans are represented in the German administrative elite. Based on an original dataset of 512 appointments of top civil servants (TCS) in the Eastern German Länder and Berlin between January 2000 and December 2019, it is investigated (1) whether the descriptive representation of East Germans increases over time and (2) how commonalities and differences between TCS with East or West German origin develop over time. The focus here is on their educational and career background as well as on party politicisation. Findings reveal a clear temporal effect: the descriptive representation of East Germans in top positions in the civil service increases over time. Still, East Germans remain highly under-represented in Eastern Germany’s administrative elite. Another important finding is that TCS increasingly converge over time in terms of their educational and career background. A similar converging trend is observable with regard to party politicisation. These findings indicate a trend towards ‘normalisation’, i.e. an increasing adaptation to West German standards. This adaptation process, however, is taking longer than expected as the after-effects of the West German ‘elite imports’ in the early 1990s are enduring and profound.
{"title":"Preservation of Differences or Adaptation to Western Germany? Descriptive Representation, Career Patterns and Politicisation of Top Civil Servants in Eastern Germany","authors":"Sylvia Veit","doi":"10.1080/09644008.2022.2061463","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2022.2061463","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates to what extent East Germans are represented in the German administrative elite. Based on an original dataset of 512 appointments of top civil servants (TCS) in the Eastern German Länder and Berlin between January 2000 and December 2019, it is investigated (1) whether the descriptive representation of East Germans increases over time and (2) how commonalities and differences between TCS with East or West German origin develop over time. The focus here is on their educational and career background as well as on party politicisation. Findings reveal a clear temporal effect: the descriptive representation of East Germans in top positions in the civil service increases over time. Still, East Germans remain highly under-represented in Eastern Germany’s administrative elite. Another important finding is that TCS increasingly converge over time in terms of their educational and career background. A similar converging trend is observable with regard to party politicisation. These findings indicate a trend towards ‘normalisation’, i.e. an increasing adaptation to West German standards. This adaptation process, however, is taking longer than expected as the after-effects of the West German ‘elite imports’ in the early 1990s are enduring and profound.","PeriodicalId":46640,"journal":{"name":"German Politics","volume":"32 1","pages":"149 - 168"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42190052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-10DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2059469
J. Zilles, Stine Marg
The policy field of energy and climate policy has been shaped by a profound polarisation in recent years. On the one hand, young people in urban centres across Germany and beyond are protesting in the streets, demanding more effective political action and greater responsibility regarding climate change. On the other hand, citizens in rural areas are increasingly rejecting specific projects to implement the energy transition. These distinct poles are diametrically opposed and form clusters of people sharing the same mindsets regarding the issue of climate and energy policy. We conduct a qualitative analysis to describe these shared mindsets and collective identities of these clusters and their specific conceptualisation of the ‘others’. Although the shared mindsets of the clusters are distinct, some narratives overlap, e.g. the ambition to serve the common good, the strong reliance on science and experts and the attachment to nature and the environment. Both poles recognise each other as their respective counterpart, but the external perception is mostly negative and distorted thus leading to additional tension. Finally, we conclude that it is worthwhile for future research to investigate if this polarisation integrates into existing cleavages or whether it should be discussed beyond this.
{"title":"Protest and Polarisation in the Context of Energy Transition and Climate Policy in Germany: Mindsets and Collective Identities","authors":"J. Zilles, Stine Marg","doi":"10.1080/09644008.2022.2059469","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2022.2059469","url":null,"abstract":"The policy field of energy and climate policy has been shaped by a profound polarisation in recent years. On the one hand, young people in urban centres across Germany and beyond are protesting in the streets, demanding more effective political action and greater responsibility regarding climate change. On the other hand, citizens in rural areas are increasingly rejecting specific projects to implement the energy transition. These distinct poles are diametrically opposed and form clusters of people sharing the same mindsets regarding the issue of climate and energy policy. We conduct a qualitative analysis to describe these shared mindsets and collective identities of these clusters and their specific conceptualisation of the ‘others’. Although the shared mindsets of the clusters are distinct, some narratives overlap, e.g. the ambition to serve the common good, the strong reliance on science and experts and the attachment to nature and the environment. Both poles recognise each other as their respective counterpart, but the external perception is mostly negative and distorted thus leading to additional tension. Finally, we conclude that it is worthwhile for future research to investigate if this polarisation integrates into existing cleavages or whether it should be discussed beyond this.","PeriodicalId":46640,"journal":{"name":"German Politics","volume":"32 1","pages":"495 - 516"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47774765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-05DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2044474
Swen Hutter, Manès Weisskircher
ABSTRACT In this Special Issue, we show that the study of civil society, social movements, and protest is central for assessing the current state of German politics. First, moving beyond political parties and electoral politics delivers crucial insights into the ideological, affective, and organisational structuring of emerging polarisation and cleavages. Second, the transformations in electoral politics are closely interrelated with dynamics in civil society. Building on these perspectives, the contributions to the Special Issue underline that, due to the emergence of new cleavages, Germany, like other European countries, has seen a double transformation of its landscape of political contestation: ‘New contentious politics’ is on the rise, marked by new issues and claims as well as hybrid organisational forms and close interactions between protest and electoral politics. Importantly, in contrast to long-held assumptions, protest is not the exclusive terrain of ‘progressive’ forces and not shaped by increasingly differentiated arenas of mobilisation. Based on a broad range of cases and methods, the contributions take stock of social movement and civil society activism in Germany since the 2000s, i.e. in an era of multiple crises and increasing polarisation.
{"title":"New Contentious Politics. Civil Society, Social Movements, and the Polarisation of German Politics","authors":"Swen Hutter, Manès Weisskircher","doi":"10.1080/09644008.2022.2044474","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2022.2044474","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this Special Issue, we show that the study of civil society, social movements, and protest is central for assessing the current state of German politics. First, moving beyond political parties and electoral politics delivers crucial insights into the ideological, affective, and organisational structuring of emerging polarisation and cleavages. Second, the transformations in electoral politics are closely interrelated with dynamics in civil society. Building on these perspectives, the contributions to the Special Issue underline that, due to the emergence of new cleavages, Germany, like other European countries, has seen a double transformation of its landscape of political contestation: ‘New contentious politics’ is on the rise, marked by new issues and claims as well as hybrid organisational forms and close interactions between protest and electoral politics. Importantly, in contrast to long-held assumptions, protest is not the exclusive terrain of ‘progressive’ forces and not shaped by increasingly differentiated arenas of mobilisation. Based on a broad range of cases and methods, the contributions take stock of social movement and civil society activism in Germany since the 2000s, i.e. in an era of multiple crises and increasing polarisation.","PeriodicalId":46640,"journal":{"name":"German Politics","volume":"32 1","pages":"403 - 419"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45509734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-04DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2058495
Eric Linhart, K. Eichhorn
{"title":"Electoral Systems and Party Systems in Germany on the Local Level","authors":"Eric Linhart, K. Eichhorn","doi":"10.1080/09644008.2022.2058495","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2022.2058495","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46640,"journal":{"name":"German Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49130810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-01DOI: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2056594
Florian Maximilian Wimmesberger, Stefan Seuffert
{"title":"Myopic Fiscal Policy During the COVID-19 Pandemic and its Intergenerational Burden","authors":"Florian Maximilian Wimmesberger, Stefan Seuffert","doi":"10.1080/09644008.2022.2056594","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2022.2056594","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46640,"journal":{"name":"German Politics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44510360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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