Helga A. Welsh

The PDS in the new German party system

The success of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) cannot be explained solely with a rising tide of GDR nostalgia and/or with the efficiency of PDS members as service providers and advocates at the grass‐roots level. We stress the importance of the PDS as the main political representative of a specific socio‐economic and cultural milie in the former GDR. Furthermore, the article traces the evolution of the PDS from a populist voice of protest of the losers of unification to the beginnings of a new political party. As such it defines its identity more as a radical left‐wing party with strong social libertarian characteristics than a traditional socialist party. The party programme and the electorate of the PDS display remarkable similarities to the fundamentalist wing of the West German Greens in the 1980s, although differences as to the origins of the left‐libertarian ideas remain important. While the PDS seems to have strengthened the significance of the new politics agenda in post‐unification German...

Parliamentary elites in times of political transition: The case of Eastern Germany

This article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of elite and institutional (in this case parliamentary) changes in times of political transitions, and more specifically, to a better understanding of the political changes currently under way in Germany. In doing so, it illuminates patterns of elite change by looking at the composition of the state diets (Landtage) in the five new federal states which were created in October 1990. The focus is on predictors of explanation in elite recruitment and elite replacement. Elite replacement in 1990 was thorough and continued in 1994. Members of parliament display remarkably similar background and career characteristics within and across states. In turn, commonalities of origin and career have facilitated efficiency in parliamentary work.

When discourse trumps policy: Transitional justice in unified Germany

Attempts at realising transitional justice can be divided broadly into legal-administrative and truth-telling measures. Whereas criminal trials, vetting, and restitution procedures target specific groups and tend to be short-lived, history lessons try to shape historical and political identities, with long-term implications. Most literature on transitional justice tends to focus on either one or the other, but, using the example of the former East Germany, I call attention to their interaction, which is crucial for understanding the dynamics of dealing with the communist past. In the early 1990s, reckoning with the past turned into a major preoccupation, but, soon, demands for transitional justice were overwhelmed by demands for economic and social justice and matters of identity. The legal outcome was more moderate than could have been anticipated at the beginning of the process and was ultimately defied by an equally important and comprehensive political discourse; with time, history lessons claimed center stage. Their discourse privileged retribution over reconciliation and left more potent legacies than legal-administrative restraint.

Education, Federalism and the 2013 Bundestag Elections

The cycle of introducing and recalibrating reforms has become a hallmark of German education policy; progress in updating institutions and policies and educational outcomes is dogged by chronic problems. The drivers of change have been a medley of interests, actors, and socio-economic conditions. Institutional change has blended with established policy-making patterns and a move towards greater ideological pragmatism. Due to its national significance, education is prominently positioned in coalition agreements that precede the formation of a new government but plays a marginal role in federal election campaigns. Its treatment in the 2013 coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and the SPD reaffirms continuity in broad policy goals; the omission of important questions exposed ongoing battles over jurisdiction that are closely tied to conflicts over authority and funding. The results fit a pattern in which flexible policy adjustments and fund distribution result from negotiations among interlocking networks of policy entrepreneurs.

Shadows of the Past: Germany and the Legacy of SED Rule

Contemporary politics in Eastern Germany (as well as in most of Central and Eastern Europe) are characterised by a necessity to address the past in order to build the future. Unearthing and coming to grips with events since communist takeovers after the end of World War II is one of the primary concerns of the revolutions in Eastern Europe. The range of tasks this implies only begins with the revelation of injustices and the rehabilitation of victims of communism: there are streets to rename, statutes to topple, unmarked graves to locate, national identities to redefine.1 Other critical components that require historical perspective in the transition from communist regimes to those based on principles of polyarchy and market economics include assessment of the lingering impact of the communist political background on current political culture;2 restitution, which is central to the whole privatisation process; the appraisal of communist party assets, and the critical evaluation of the past and future role of the former nomenklatura and state security agents.

Kontinuität als Markenzeichen

Bildung, da sind sich Fachleute wie Laien einig, nimmt seit mehr als einem Jahrzehnt wieder einen prominenten Platz auf der politischen Tagesordnung ein. Dabei geht es unter anderem um Studiengebuhren, innerdeutsche und internationale Rankings, die Integration von Migrantenkindern in den Schulbetrieb, den Mangel an Kinderkrippenplatzen in den westlichen Bundeslandern, Nachbesserungen der Bologna Reform, und immer wieder um Schulstrukturen: Soll es G8 oder doch lieber G9 sein? Gibt es im Schulsystem noch einen Platz fur Hauptschulen? Wie kann die Durchlassigkeit von einer Schule zur anderen verbessert und der Ubergang von beruflicher Bildung zu Hochschulen erleichtert werden? Wie wird sich die Bildungsstruktur aufgrund der unterschiedlichen regionalen demografischen Entwicklung verandern? Die Ungleichheit der Bildungschancen, die nach wie vor stark durch soziale Herkunft vorstrukturiert sind, zieht sich als roter Faden ebenso durch die Diskussionen wie das Gerangel um Politikkompetenzen im Bundesstaat Deutschland.

German Politics: Patterns of Continuity and Change

Any national narrative has breaking points whose penetrating political, social and economic ramifications are felt and analysed until the next one emerges; no path leads back to the previous status quo. German unification posed one of those breaking points for both parts of Germany, even though the farreaching political and socio-economic transformation in the former German Democratic Republic at first appeared to be accompanied by West Germany’s political continuity. In fact, the radical transition in the East first delayed but then accelerated the need for change for the country as a whole. Soon, however, unification as a major focus of analysis receded into the background, symbolically closed by anniversary events, such as the 50-year celebration of the German Basic Law in 1999 and ten years of German unity in 2000. Scholarly attention shifted back to a no less urgent but more gradual transition that is driven by the interdependence of domestic, European and global developments that started in the 1980s and was briefly interrupted by the urgency of tasks associated with German unification.