Old Laws, New Citizens
Trust in the Courts in the New Federal States
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6263148 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christopher Heurlin (0000-0003-2896-4947, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 411-428 |
| Publication date | 2012-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | German Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0964-4008 • E-ISSN: 1743-8993 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09644008.2012.739611 |
| OpenAlex | W2065300015 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
After the reunification of West and East Germany, West German laws, lawyers and judges almost completely replaced the East German legal system, giving rise to a unique situation in which ‘old laws’ governed ‘new citizens’. Are West German laws and legal institutions incompatible with the socialist values of East Germans? Or do East Germans judge legal institutions based on their performance? Using three surveys from the 1990s and 2000s this article shows support for both cultural and performance approaches to institutional trust, but suggests that the impact of cultural factors may have declined over time. Improved economic and political performance in the 2000s, moreover, has led levels of trust in the East to reach nearly the same levels as in the West. Surprisingly, the results show as well that ‘socialist values’ in West Germany are also a barrier to trust in the courts
Economic history · Economics · Geography · German · German reunification · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · West germany · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,2 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2021 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |