Political Culture in a United Germany | Article Review

Dalton, Russell J., and Steven Weldon. “Germans Divided? Political Culture in a United Germany,” German Politics 19.1 (2010): 9-23.

In their article, Dalton and Weldon focus on examining the key elements of cultural differences between Eastern and Western Germany, as well as historical factors contributing to these differences. In particular, the authors claim that the unification of Germany was not just political and economic, but primarily a socio-cultural challenge, which has eventually resulted in the formation of two political cultures, i.e. deeply varying national identity, attitudes towards democracy, democratic process, and the role of the state. Persisting for 20 years after unification, these cultures still generate questions of socialization and the sense of political community,

In its essence, Dalton and Weldon’s research is the overview of the tendencies in the public thought of both regions. The authors rely on multiple studies and observations in order to assess how the East-West gap has changed, and thus the strength of their argument consists in the vast empirical foundation of the research.

For instance, showing how West Germans tended to rank low in national pride index in cross-national comparison studies, Dalton and Weldon (11) cite Almond and Verba 1959 survey, 1990-2006 World Values Survey, World Cup 2006 Poll, and Allensbach report 1991-2004. Specifically, in accordance with the historic perspective, the nationalist leftovers of the past regimes made the elites and citizens of FRG cautious in developing profound emotional attachment to the national symbols, while in the East, national pride was emphasized through a wide range of governmental mechanisms (Dalton and Weldon 10-11). The opportunity for addressing this void is seen by the researchers in German unification, however, their interpretation of the 1990-2006 World Values Survey and post-World Cup 2006 Poll is quite pessimistic. In particular, they state that the lack of national pride in post-unification Germany was registered in both regions in 1990, as well demonstrated small changes in ratio 16 years later (Dalton and Weldon 12). Indeed, it is hard to disagree here that the overall tendency was not positive, especially in the view of comparative figures from other countries. Thus, similarly to Dalton and Weldon, Rensmann (274) marks that the indicator of national identity potency, United Germany significantly lags behind other developed democracies, namely the same World Values Survey revealed more than 30% underrun of the “very proud” group in comparison to the UK and USA results.

On the other hand, according to several other reports, the divide has still narrowed down in recent years. While Dalton and Weldon (12) only briefly cover the Allensbach report 1991-2004, mainly since it counters their main thesis, Fukuyama (46-49) emphasizes that in 1990s, the reduction of trust in political institutions in connection with the formation of new values of the post-industrial society was observed in many countries, and later naturally transformed in to a new value consensus. Therefore, a wide picture of the world should be considered. Moreover, in this regard, unlike Dalton and Weldon, Fukuyama (136) believes that Germany had important advantages compared to other developed democratic countries due to the high level of interpersonal trust. Instead of focusing on variability, Fukuyama (136-37) draws attention to the elements of continuity in the political culture of Germany, which survived in very difficult political conditions. Thus, high trust in each other ultimately may have served a foundation of Germany’s later success in both political and economic development, while the vital role of national identities still remain questionable.

The second important claim of the researchers is that all the positive post-unification changes in the understanding of democracy and the role of the state have not yet led to the complete cultural integration. Relying on Falter et al, 2006 World Values Survey, Allensbach report 1991-2004, and 2008 ALLBUS research, Dalton and Weldon (14) conclude that despite certain convergence and high support percentage, the meanings of democracy as such continues to differ in the East and West. In order to prove their argument, Dalton and Weldon (15) provide a quite convincing multivariate analysis of cross-regional attitudes. Applying OLS regression predicting belief that Germany has a completely democratic government, the researchers measure a wide range of indicators, from the level of satisfaction with life and financial situation up to partisanship support. On the one hand, this analysis deepens the overall perception of cultural differences. In particular, Dalton and Weldon theory on the correlations of criticism of democracy (16-17) should be appreciated for its assessments of at least three cultural levels: individual, group and societal. On the other hand, being interrelated, these levels also do not often coincide and are potentially conflicting. Here, we should agree with Rensmann (280) that political culture cannot be reduced, as in this case, only to the beliefs, attitudes, and certain ways of behavior of individuals. Based on mass phenomena, political culture is generally impossible to understand outside the existing culture of state power, its institutions, standards, and current interaction with citizens and structures of the civil society, whereas Dalton and Weldon are rather focused on historical preconditions of respondents’ survey answers.

Overall, however, Dalton and Weldon remain critical towards their own conclusions. Thus, they reasonably note that political importance of regional identities depends on how the meaning of national pride affects other aspects of the political culture, which should become the subject of further studies (Dalton and Weldon 12). The researcher also mark that the gap may simply be the result of the economic disparity between East and West, rather that the speed of cultural shift (Dalton and Weldon 18). Finally, Dalton and Weldon (19) admit that despite sensitivity, the opinion gap has positive potential. From this perspective, the current study may be considered systematic in terms of identifying the factors of democratic stability and socio-political effectiveness, as well as can be used as the source for the further institutional analysis of driving political forces, development of democratic mechanisms, and regulation of social and political contradictions and conflicts.

Works Cited:

Dalton, Russell J., and Steven Weldon. “Germans Divided? Political Culture in a United Germany,” German Politics 19.1 (2010): 9-23.

Fukuyama, Francis. Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018.

Rensmann, Lars. “Mind the Gap: Explaining unified Germany’s Divided Party System,” European View 8.2 (2009): 271-283.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

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freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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