You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t (always) make it drink

Postive freedom in the aftermath of German unification

Bibliographic Data

ID6180965
AuthorsLouise K Davidson-Schmich (0000-0003-0832-3392, University of Miami), K Hartmann (Institut für interdisziplinäre und angewandte Diakoniewissenschaft, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Fliednerstraße 2, D-45481 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Bonn, Germany), Uwe Mummert (Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences Nuremberg)
Year2002
Volume35
Issue3
Pages325-352
Publication date2002-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommunist and Post-Communist Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0967-067X • E-ISSN: 1873-6920
PublisherUniversity of California Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1016/s0967-067x(02)00014-4
OpenAlexW2071057235
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited18

This article investigates the degree to which the East Germans have acted on the freedoms they gained after the fall of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Initially, many observers expected that the East Germans would quickly take advantage of their political, religious, and economic freedoms to become as entrepreneurial, partisan, and religious as their Western counterparts. Over the past decade, however, social scientists have discovered the persistence of ‘Leninist legacies,’ arguing that the East Europeans’ socialization under communism will make them reluctant to act on the before-mentioned freedoms. Contrary to both of these expectations, we find considerable variation in the Easterners’ behavior. In the economic sphere, while the Easterners have been willing to engage in legal market activity, they have been reluctant to get involved with gray market activity. In the political realm the elites have embraced partisan politics more thoroughly than have ordinary citizens. Finally, the Easterners have flocked neither to the Catholic and Protestant churches nor to new religious movements like Scientology. These results suggest that the combination of Western rights and Eastern Leninist legacies has created a unique incentive structure in East Germany. The Easterners face a different cost-benefit calculus than do the Westerners and, as a result, at times are less willing to act on their positive freedoms

Communism · Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Free market · German · Incentive · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Protestantism · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · European history and politics · History · Law · Religion and Society Interactions

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