ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the political orientations of East and West German citizens as they emerged and crystallized during the process of unification. By contrast and in retrospect, East and West German citizens from the outset had assessed the likely consequences of unification more realistically. The political agenda in the two Germanys differed in important respects, and it is only recently that issues of right-wing extremism and asylum policy have become problems of controversy in eastern Germany. Additional socio-structural variables significant for understanding political participation are age and gender. The political situation in the German Democratic Republic before unification was dominated by citizen dissatisfaction with their economic and political way of life. In early 1990, East Germans were surprisingly more supportive of democratic conflict than West German citizens. In 1992 little more than one third of East Germans were satisfied with the way democracy is presently working in Germany.
