We have described differences in party images between East and West Germany for 1990.
As a result we have singled out image elements which represent cases of large differences.
Partisan Orientation in a 'New’Democracy 33
We have discussed all these cases and tried to locate them with respect to the "current events" explanation or to the "direct-exposure long-term learning" model. In case of small differences between East and West Germany in 1990 we were unable to decide between the "indirect-exposure long-term learning" model and the "current events" model. There
fore we have, in addition, considered changes of major image elements from 1987 to 1990 in West Germany. Whenever large scale differences between the two points in time occur
red we have assumed results to represent a "current events" situation. Thus, we are finally able to attempt an answer to the question how we might explain the development of party images in East Germany.
In the beginning we have introduced three potential ways East Germans might have le
arned partisan attitudes as reflected in party images: the "current events model", the
"direct-exposure long-term learning" model, and the "indirect-exposure long-term lear
ning" model. How does the empirical evidence square with the logic of these models? Re
sults are displayed in Table 8.
Our findings support the "current events" model and the "indirect-exposure long-term learning" model. There are elements in the images of the FDP and the Greens which have the flavour of "direct-exposure long-term learning" and we have classified them this way.
Of course, even with our differentiated data base much of what we do remains guesswork, and in some cases boundaries are fuzzy. For example, would we have selected a lower threshhold for our definition of "large" differences we might have found some image ele
ments fitting the models differently.
The proportion of image elements supporting the "indirect-exposure long-term learning"
model is 80 percent for the SPD, 75 percent for the Greens, 67 percent for the CDU, and 45 percent for the FDP. For the FDP 27 percent and for the Greens 13 percent are in sup
port of the "direct-experience long-term learning" model. What remains speaks for the
"current events" model. Thus, outside learning was the modal way East Germans acquired partisan attitudes. To be sure, first hand experience has come from current events of which the unification issue was certainly the most important. We may have found some remnants from the past in case of the FDP and the Greens but these will fade away.
Direct learning of the virtues and vices of party politics, however, has already begun for East Germans. We would be surprised would we not find larger differences in party images in future studies. Results of the development of party attachment which we have reported earlier in the chapter clearly point into that direction.
Table 8: Major Types of Image Elements and Models for Explanation of Image Forma
Cell entries are major types of image elements. Index values in parenthesis.
Partisan Orientation in a 'New' Democracy 35
9. Conclusions
The socio-political transformations in Eastern Europe have changed the global political landscape of the world although in 1993 it is not at all clear what the long-term consequen
ces of those changes are going to be. On a smaller scale, these transformations have also created a tremendous challenge and, at the same time, an opportunity for the social scien
ces. It is probably not too far-fetched to argue that we have been witnessing and have been part of a giant social experiment.
One of the most interesting questions to be tackled by political scientists in this context is what kind of political order will result from the transitions in Eastern Europe. De
mocracy is but one answer, and even there a lot of wishful thinking is involved. Of course, it will be some time until an answer can be given in a reliable fashion. Core elements of pluralist democracies are intermediary structures, among them most prominently interest groups and political parties. In this chapter, we have looked at the case of the emerging party system in East Germany, the former GDR.
It is unfortunate for comparative politics, though, that East Germany, for reasons speci
fied before, is a very special case. Thus, our findings cannot be easily generalized. Ne
vertheless, we look at the political parties in the eastern part of Germany as a fascinating topic for political sociology.
The analyses have strongly supported the "indirect exposure long-term learning" model, at least for the first phase of the East German party system. It is this model which best ex
plains the ease by which most of the East Germans have adopted party labels which were exported to them from West Germany jointly with a loose organizational infrastructure.
Obviously, communication, and here mostly West German television, and personal con
tacts between West Germans and East Germans despite the "wall" over almost all of the period where two separate German states existed, is the prime explanatory factor in this type of learning model. This interpretation is well in line with the fact that it is the two major parties of CDU/CSU and SPD whose image structure can be best explained by that particular model. It is quite fitting to recall that analyses comparing democratic attitudes of East and West Germans (Bauer 1991; Dalton 1991; Weil 1992) were also puzzled by the convergence in these attitudes.
At the same time, our data on the temporal development of partisan attitudes point to the limits in this convergence interpretation. The enormous shift we have observed in party preferences after 1990 indicates that the "current events" model may have some virtue after all. It must be a relief for socialization theorists that, if our speculations hold, "virtual" le
arning of political orientations is not quite equivalent to "doing it the hard way" over many years of direct exposure to political symbols, structures, and processes. Our tale signals
that the road to democracy in Eastern Europe must indeed be traveled. There is no substi
tute for direct experience.
Partisan Orientation in a 'New'Democracy 37
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