The Fall of Communism and Its Effect on Radical Voting: Evidence from Germany

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel studies the fall of the communist German Democratic Republic in 1989 and its impact on radical voting behavior. We begin with a paper studying the immediate transition period in which the GDR’s command economy was transformed into a market economy. The first paper finds that large-scale privatizations led to a pronounced socialist backlash as early as 1994, setting East Germany on a fraught electoral trajectory. The second paper explores deeper causes for far-right voting behavior in the GDR. In particular, the paper finds that men who were educated in the GDR are significantly more likely to vote for far-right parties, while this effect does not hold for women. The third paper examines differences in political attitudes between Eastern and Western Germans and finds that the density of social networks partially accounts for variation in levels of political disenchantment across both regions. Taken together, the papers on the panel examine how the fall of the Berlin Wall has caused radical voting behavior and thus offer a novel piece of evidence for Central and Eastern European democratic backsliding.

Sub Unit

• Division 13: Politics of Communist and Former Communist Countries

Individual Presentations

• Privatizations Spark Socialist Backlash: Evidence from East Germany - Anselm Hager, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Werner Krause, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

• Indoctrination in Autocracies and Radical-Right Voting - Sascha Riaz, Harvard University; Hanno Hilbig, Harvard University; Daniel F. Ziblatt, Harvard University

• Inter-Group Contacts and Political Resentment in Eastern Germany - Evelyne Brie, Western University

Chair

• Jonathan Homola Rice University

Discussant

• Jonathan Homola Rice University