46 FRANK BÖSCH AND JENS GIESEKE
Given this backdrop, it comes as no surprise that the very nature of
politics itself also changed in quite divergent ways in West and East
Germany. The Federal Republic of Germany experienced a succession
of shifts, beginning with a liberalization of political culture in the early
1960s. The more radical protests of the student movement followed on its
heels, which in turn fed into a broader political mobilization of the pop-
ulation in the 1970s and early 1980s that manifested itself in civic move-
ments, public demonstrations, and a spike in political party membership.
However, this general transformation of social ideals and political goals,
as well as the emergence of new topics alongside alternative forms of po-
litical participation and decision-making processes, generally took place
within the existing institutional framework; of course, a few groups did
indeed challenge the system as a whole and reject its premises. The sit-
uation in the GDR was diff erent altogether because the incredibly static
institutional order of the Communist regime fi rst collapsed in the face of
mass protests and the introduction of democracy at a much later point.
Quite obviously, none of the political upheavals in the Federal Republic
cut as deeply into the core of politics than this transformation in the East.
Paradoxically, the Bonn Republic was actually utterly unprepared for this
development when it came, despite all the talk about its constitutional
and political commitment to reunifi cation.
Given these fundamental distinctions, it seems rather senseless to com-
pare the systems of government in both Germanys. However, it does make
all the more sense to approach these political transformations from a so-
cial history perspective as part of a geteilte Geschichte of diff erences and
interaction. A number of political phenomena lend themselves well to such
a framework, including the growth of political discourses; the long-term
dynamics of democratization, politicization, and depoliticization; and the
political impact of overarching trends in late twentieth century industrial
societies, such as educational expansion, reactions to economic crises,
and environmental critiques of civilization. In the 1970s and 1980s, both
Germanys experienced changes within these areas that manifested them-
selves in new forms of protest or waves of politicization. Examining these
longer trajectories can also help explain the outbreak of protests around
1980 in the West and the seemingly sudden political eruption of 1989
in the East. Likewise, they help account for the mutual adaptations and
diff erences in political culture that were also asymmetrically distributed.
With its broader approach to politics and what constitutes the political,
this article consciously deviates from the focus on state (i.e., government)
politics typical of the many studies that trace decision-making processes,
analyze German-German politics, or investigate reunifi cation as a politi-
cal process. It defi nes “politics” as a communicative space—as an arena