E
chapter 1
Political Transformations
in Eas t and West
Frank Bösch and Jens Gieseke
T
he political systems in East and West Germany were very diff erent
up to 1989. Consequently, it is not surprising that “politics” itself or
even what was actually considered to be political varied across the bor-
der. Not only institutions and laws, but also the informal rules behind
the game of politics were not the same. Political statements, especially
those tinged with criticism or protest, were embedded within very dis-
tinct frameworks and bore specifi c implications. In the West, political
debates were increasingly seen as indicative of a thriving democracy. In
the East, however, prior to 1989 they were either carefully orchestrated
from above or associated with risks for everyone involved because jobs,
access to a university education, or even prison sentences could hang in
the balance. Organizations such as political parties, unions, or solidarity
groups may have borne similar names on either side of the Iron Curtain,
but something completely diff erent was often hiding behind them. Con-
sequently, even terms such as “political culture” do not seem to apply
in the same way in both contexts. The same also holds true for political
communication, which functioned very diff erently in a democracy that
guaranteed freedom of expression than in a society in which censorship
and the media were mostly held under the thumb of the Politburo. In-
deed, just how limited political maneuverability was in the German Dem-
ocratic Republic—even compared to other socialist states—can be clearly
seen in the case of its next-door neighbor Poland, where protests and a
strong samizdat press managed to carve out a multivalent, albeit illegal,
space for political discourse.
