Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 21 Feb 2006
How Does Postcommunist Transformation Affect Political Protest? The Example of East Germany
How Does Postcommunist Transformation Affect Political Protest? The Example of East Germany
Page Range: 127 – 147
How do protest and its causes change after the democratic transformation of communist regimes? It is argued that certain features of the transformation process have an impact on the conditions that directly influence individual protest participation. These conditions are political discontent, perceived personal political influence, perceived obligation to participate, and integration in protest-.promoting networks. Drawing on the case of East Germany, propositions are suggested about how these four conditions change as a result of the transformation process, and about their differential impact on protest over time. The propositions are tested with a four-wave panel survey of 226 respondents from Leipzig (East Germany) who were interviewed in 1990 (referring to the situation under communist rule), 1993, 1996, and 1998. It was found, among other things, that protest decreased continuously between 1989 and 1998; and that each of the four factors' contribution to protest differed over time.
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