The inheritance of civil movements
Abstracts (english)
Dieter
Rucht
German Unification and democratization
FJNSB, pp. 12-19
In the process of German unification, a rapid adoption of the
West German institutions took place. The civil movements (Bürgerbewegungen)
had to surrender their temporary political influence to newly arisen
political parties within the process of transformation. Dieter Rucht
analyses the internal and external factors of this development. The
internal factors are a highly morally loaded understanding of policy
(Politikverständnis), conceptionally vague ideas of political order,
weak organization, and limited resources. As external factors, Rucht
names the massive influence of the West German parties, the initially
underestimated competition from the PDS, and the split of the civil
movement within the process of founding own political parties.
Dieter
Rink
New movement in the East?
FJNSB, pp. 20-26
While an important part of the civil movement dissolved in
the newly arisen political structures, some smaller groups adhered to
beliefs and programmes of the civil movement and sought new fields of
political engagement. Dieter Rink gives an overview of these groups,
which are certainly threatened by dissolution of their structures. Compared
with this, political self-organization in local civil initiatives, women's
groups and projects, cultural centers, ecological projects etc. gained
more importance. This sector of social movement is characterized by
a pragmatic orientation, professional work strategies, commercialization,
and - among the squatters and autonomous groups - political mobilization
structures. However, overlapping cooperations do not exist.
Irene
Zierke
Between distance and nearness
FJNSB, pp. 27-36
Irene Zierke analyses the opportunities for development of
East German social movements, concerning the concept of everyday culture.
The East German civil movements had no opportunities for an emancipatory
action, mainly because there were no public rooms and therefore no access
to the public. The specific conditions of East German civil movement
are determined by three everyday cultural factors: (1) structures of
(political) education after cultural opening of the GDR, (2) the dependence
on specific social spaces such as the civic-humanistic family, protestant
church, and the cultural federation (Kulturbund), and (3) strategies
of action which arised through confrontation with political institutions.
These conditions led to a rooting of social alternatives in the East
German arena of conflict.
Hubertus
Knabe
Stasi discussion
FJNSB, pp. 37-50
Hubertus Knabe outlines the interaction of East German civil
movements with the GDR past, especially with the issue of "state
security" (Stasi, Ministry of State Security or MfS). In a historical
part, he describes the change of attitudes in the civil movement towards
the MfS and distinguishes four phases: (1) the time until autumn 1989,
(2) from the dissolution of the MfS to the Unification Treaty, (3) from
Unification to the Stasi Documents Act, and (4) the time after the opening
of the Stasi-documents. He states that the civil movements of the GDR
did not discuss activities of the Stasi until autumn '89. The Stasi
issue gained central importance when the first informations about the
extent of Stasi observation became public, that is, when public pressure
emerged.
Helmut
Müller-Enbergs
On Informal Members and Bündnis 90 Brandenburg
FJNSB, pp. 51-64
The Stasi discussion is analysed by Helmut Müller-Enbergs using
the example of the Brandenburg's civil movement. He relates the dramatic
difficulties of the participation of (the party) Bündnis 90 in the state
government, caused by a personalized discussion about Stasi agents (informal
members or IM). It is shown that there were extremely different attitudes
towards the former IMs amongst the own party members, especially concerning
the case of Manfred Stolpe, Prime Minister of Brandenburg. This discussion
finally caused the split of the civil movement and of the government's
coalition.
Lothar
Probst
The left and civil movements
FJNSB, pp. 65-79
Lothar Probst examines the opportunities of the civil movement
to gain political power after Unification. In his introduction, he balances
the self-critical comments of some movement antagonists and compares
them to the theories of Bruce Ackermann and Hannah Arendt. He then discusses
the relationship of civil movements and (West German) political parties.
He attributes the long hesitation by the SPD to enter into any cooperation
to its former Ostpolitik. Although there was an early fusion between
the Green Party and Bündnis 90, the civil movements have not perceptibly
influenced moral and political beliefs. PDS has profited from the "political
inconspicuousness" of the civil movement and presents itself today
as the representative of East German self-assurance. In his conclusion,
he negates any opportunity for the civil movements to gain more political
power. |
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