The Civic Culture and Unified Germany: An Overview

Abstract

In this article we attempt to examine what has happened to the Civic Culture paradigm in the past 50 years with particular focus on Germany. We first discuss the impact of the research and its core findings for the Federal Republic. Second, we focus on the issue of ‘inner unity’. Third, we present data on the development of unified Germany's political culture since the 1990 unification. We examine the influence over time of the major explanatory variables that have been central to post-unification culture research: socialisation or the effect of the socialist past, the contrasting economic experiences of both regions during the early decades of their democratic existence and the role of identity politics in shaping each region's view of each other. Finally, this article contends that in spite of the cultural differences there is a consensus on the institutions, processes and values of political democracy in the unified Republic.