International Programs

The purpose of this essay is to examine the reasons for why the political, economic and social merging of East and West Germany has been difficult, and to better understand the factors that could lead one day to the development of one unified political culture.
In order to explain different political behaviors in East and West Germany I examined the political culture of Germany. I mainly focused on the different economic and political backgrounds of both regions, and on the different voting behaviors in order to show that there are two different political cultures in Germany at present.
My results were that different past political and economic socialization experiences created after WWII two different political cultures in East and West Germany. The different present values, materialist values in East Germany and postmaterialist values in West Germany, are the reason why these two different political cultures continue to exist. Economic change and a change in generations is therefore necessary in order to merge the two political cultures into one unified German political culture.