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Being part of a larger research project on the representation of East Germans in German political institutions and especially in elite positions, this paper will look at the representation of East Germans in the permanent committees of the Bundestag. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on demographic characteristics, this paper investigates differences and similarities of East and West German members of the Bundestag. Are East Germans becoming more similar to their West German peers or do they remain a different elite? ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is time to reassess what the transition has meant for the women of Eastern Germany. Specifically: what has been the impact of transferring social systems from a social democratic regime to a conservative regime? How have the changes affected employment, fertility, gender identity and political participation a generation later? It is expected that welfare regime change will have a significant impact in a number of ways. .x000d..x000d.A: Social regime change will correlate with less labor force participation of women. B: Due to the current necessity and desirability of employment, it is expected that transformation from a social democratic welfare regime to a conservative one will correlate with lower fertility rates in eastern Germany. C: It is predicted that the implementation of the West German welfare regime has led East German women to view themselves and their role in society more like women in western Germany. D: Unification will lead to greater feelings of female efficacy in East Germany. Women in East Germany will mobilize to regain benefits lost with welfare regime change. .x000d..x000d.Research is based on extensive literary analysis as well as 4 months fieldwork in the former GDR. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, there have been questions about the developmentâ€"or lack thereofâ€"of civil society in post-Communist countries. Civic participation in Eastern Germany, for example, has been minimal; rare instances have featured less desirable engagement of the extreme right. The increase in political engagement in the Eastern German village of Heinersdorf would appear to follow this latter trend, but upon closer investigation, it becomes clear that the motivations and discourse are different in this case. What may be similar, however, is the ultimate outcomeâ€"a shift in attitudes and views towards the right of the political spectrum. The case of Heinersdorf tells a number of storiesâ€"of persistent identity conflicts between East Germans and West Germans, of the development of civil society in a community where networks were previously very weak, of trust and democracy, and ultimately of extremist thinking and how it might develop. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We make use of a unique natural experiment in communist East Germany to analyze the role of Western media in coordinating protest behavior in authoritarian regimes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]