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Two Decades After the Wall's Fall END of COMMUNISM CHEERED 1615 L Street, N.W., Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20036 Tel (202) 419-4350 Fax (202) 419-4399 www.pewglobal.org Two Decades After the Wall’s Fall END OF COMMUNISM CHEERED BUT NOW WITH MORE RESERVATIONS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Andrew Kohut, President Richard Wike, Associate Director Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Senior Researcher Kathleen Holzwart Sprehe, Research Associate Jacob Poushter, Research Assistant (202) 419-4350 www.pewglobal.org Pew Global Attitudes Project – www.pewglobal.org NOVEMBER 2, 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Overview: End of Communism Cheered But Now With More Reservations...................1 About the Project .................................................................................................................13 Roadmap to the Report ........................................................................................................14 Chapter 1: Rating Personal Well-Being ...........................................................................15 Chapter 2: Democratic Values..........................................................................................21 Chapter 3: Evaluating Democracy....................................................................................29 Chapter 4: Economic Values ............................................................................................37 Chapter 5: Views of German Reunification .....................................................................45 Chapter 6: Opinions of Ethnic and Religious Minorities .................................................49 Chapter 7: Nationalism.....................................................................................................55 Chapter 8: Views of Other Countries and Organizations .................................................61 Chapter 9: Rating the EU and NATO...............................................................................67 Chapter 10: Rating Country Conditions and Leaders.........................................................73 Chapter 11: Religiosity and the Role of Religion...............................................................81 Survey Methods ...................................................................................................................85 Survey Topline.....................................................................................................................93 Copyright © 2009 Pew Research Center www.pewresearch.org Pew Global Attitudes Project – www.pewglobal.org Two Decades After the Wall’s Fall END OF COMMUNISM CHEERED BUT NOW WITH MORE RESERVATIONS Nearly two decades after the fall of the Berlin Approval of Change to Democracy Wall, publics of former Iron Curtain countries generally % Approve of look back approvingly at the collapse of communism. change to… Majorities of people in most former Soviet republics and Multiparty 1991 2009 Change system % % Eastern European countries endorse the emergence of East Germany 91 85 -6 Czech Rep. 80 80 0 multiparty systems and a free market economy. Slovakia 70 71 +1 Poland 66 70 +4 Hungary 74 56 -18 However, the initial widespread enthusiasm about Lithuania 75 55 -20 these changes has dimmed in most of the countries Russia 61 53 -8 Bulgaria 76 52 -24 surveyed; in some, support for democracy and capitalism Ukraine 72 30 -42 has diminished markedly. In many nations, majorities or Question 12. pluralities say that most people were better off under communism, and there is a widespread view that the business class and political leadership have benefited Approval of Change to Capitalism from the changes more than ordinary people. % Approve of Nonetheless, self reported life satisfaction has risen change to… Market 1991 2009 Change significantly in these societies compared with nearly two economy % % decades ago when the Times Mirror Center1 first studied East Germany 86 82 -4 Czech Rep. 87 79 -8 public opinion in the former Eastern bloc. Poland 80 71 -9 Slovakia 69 66 -3 Bulgaria 73 53 -20 The acceptance of – and appetite for – democracy Lithuania 76 50 -26 Russia 54 50 -4 is much less evident today among the publics of the Hungary 80 46 -34 former Soviet republics of Russia and Ukraine, who lived Ukraine 52 36 -16 the longest under communism. In contrast, Eastern Question 13. Europeans, especially the Czechs and those in the former 1 The Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press (the forerunner of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press) conducted the Pulse of Europe survey from April 15 to May 31, 1991. Interviews were conducted with 12,569 people in Britain, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Spain, as well as three republics of the Soviet Union: Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. For more details, see the Survey Methods section of this report. Pew Global Attitudes Project – www.pewglobal.org East Germany, are more accepting of the economic Opinions of German Reunification and societal upheavals of the past two decades. East 1991* 2009 Change East Germany % % Germans, in particular, overwhelmingly approve of the Very positive 45 31 -14 reunification of Germany, as do those living in what Somewhat positive 44 50 +6 Somewhat negative 7 13 +6 was West Germany. However, fewer east Germans Very negative 1 3 +2 Don't know 2 3 +1 now have very positive views of reunification than in West Germany mid-1991, when the benchmark surveys were Very positive 29 28 -1 conducted by the Times Mirror Center for the People Somewhat positive 50 49 -1 Somewhat negative 14 17 +3 & the Press. And now, as then, many of those living in Very negative 1 3 +2 east Germany believe that unification happened too Don't know 6 3 -3 quickly. Question 11. * In 1991, the question wording was, “Overall, do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the unification of One of the most positive trends in Europe since Germany?” the fall of the Wall is a decline in ethnic hostilities among the people of former communist countries. In a number of nations, fewer citizens say they hold unfavorable views of ethnic minorities than did so in 1991. Nonetheless, sizable percentages of people in former communist countries continue to have unfavorable views of minority groups and neighboring nationalities. The new poll also finds Western Europeans in a number of cases are at least as hostile toward minorities as are Eastern Europeans. In particular, many in the West, especially in Italy and Spain, hold unfavorable views of Muslims. Concern about Russia is another sentiment shared by both Eastern and Western Europeans. A majority of the French (57%) and 46% of Germans say Russia is having a bad influence on their countries; this view is shared by most Poles (59%) and sizable minorities in most other Eastern European countries. The exceptions are Bulgaria and Ukraine, where on balance Russia’s influence is seen as more positive than negative. As for the Russians themselves, there has Nationalist Sentiment in Russia been an upsurge in nationalist sentiment since the Agree Disagree DK early 1990s. A majority of Russians (54%) agree It is a great misfortune % % % with the statement “Russia should be for that the Soviet Union no longer exists 58 38 5 Russians”; just 26% agreed with that statement in Russia should be 1991. Moreover, even as they embrace free for Russians 54 43 3 market capitalism, fully 58% of Russians agree 1991 26 69 6 that “it is a great misfortune that the Soviet Union It is natural for Russia no longer exists.” And nearly half (47%) say “it is to have an empire 47 35 18 1991 37 43 19 natural for Russia to have an empire.” Questions 40f, 40i and 40k. 2 Pew Global Attitudes Project – www.pewglobal.org These are among the major findings of a new, 14-nation survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project that was conducted Aug. 27 through Sept. 24 among 14,760 adults. The survey, which includes nations in Eastern and Western Europe, as well as the United States, reexamines many of the key issues first explored in the 1991 survey conducted by the Times Mirror Center, the predecessor of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Varied Reactions to Democracy and Free Markets While the current polling finds a broad Age Gap on Change to endorsement for the demise of communism, Democracy and Capitalism reactions vary widely among and within % Approve of Oldest- countries. In east Germany and the Czech change to… youngest Multiparty 18-29 30-49 50-64 65+ gap Republic, there is considerable support for the system % % % % shift to both a multiparty system and a free Russia 65 60 46 27 -38 Bulgaria 56 61 51 37 -19 market economy. The Poles and Slovaks rank Czech Rep. 87 82 76 70 -17 Poland 76 76 65 60 -16 next in terms of acceptance. In contrast, Lithuania 59 58 56 43 -16 somewhat fewer Hungarians, Bulgarians, Hungary 60 59 55 45 -15 Ukraine 34 39 22 20 -14 Russians and Lithuanians say they favor the Slovakia 74 76 65 65 -9 East Germany 90 85 86 81 -9 changes to the political and economic systems Market they have experienced, although majorities or economy pluralities endorse the changes. Ukraine is the Russia 63 56 39 27 -36 Bulgaria 66 60 49 32 -34 only country included in the survey where Slovakia 75 73 60 46 -29 more disapprove than approve of the changes Ukraine 48 43 24 20 -28 Poland 80 78 68 53 -27 to a multiparty system and market economy. Czech Rep. 83 87 76 63 -20 Hungary 51 47 48 36 -15 Lithuania 53 53 51 41 -12 In Hungary, there is clear frustration East Germany 82 83 87 77 -5 with the current state of democracy,
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