University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 5-2010 Politically divided : a comparative analysis of German right-wing extremist voter support. Carolyn Marie Morgan University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Recommended Citation Morgan, Carolyn Marie, "Politically divided : a comparative analysis of German right-wing extremist voter support." (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1007. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/1007 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. POLITICALLY DIVIDED: a comparative analysis of German right-wing extremist voter support By Carolyn Marie Morgan B.A., Indiana University Southeast, 2007 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Department of Political Science University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky May 2010 POLITICALLY DIVIDED: a comparative analysis of German right-wing extremist voter support By Carolyn Marie Morgan B.A., Indiana University Southeast, 2007 A Thesis Approved on April 7, 2010 by the following Thesis Committee: Thesis Director t 1 11 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents, who were always supportive and knew I could do anything, even when I had no confidence. 111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my thesis director, Dr. Jason Gainous, for his guidance, support, enthusiasm, and understanding. I would also like to thank Dr. Laurie Rhodebeck for her endless support and advice. Additional thanks to Dr. Frank Goetzke for his comments and assistance. I would also like to express my extreme gratitude to Arlene Brannon and Jessica Kidd; thank you for always knowing what I needed to do and when I needed to get it done - and a particular thanks to Arlene for the much needed chocolate over the past two years. Also, many thanks and apologies to all of my friends and family members whom I feel I have neglected over the past year. Your understanding, support, and midnight calls meant more than you can ever imagine. IV ABSTRACT POLITICALLY DIVIDED: a comparative analysis of German right-wing extremist voter support Carolyn Morgan April 07, 2010 Despite twenty years of political reunification Germany remains a politically, socially, and economically divided country. This has fuelled inequalities, which are used by extreme political parties to gamer votes from citizens who have become disappointed with the effects of reunification. I aim to examine voter behavior in eastern and western Germany in respect to extreme right-wing parties. Furthermore, I isolated specific factors, such as unemployment and immigration, and test their impacts on latent support for right-wing extremist parties in the two regions. Using Politbarometer 2005 data, I employed logistic regressions to examine voter support for extreme right-wing parties. The analysis shows a significant positive impact from dissatisfaction with democracy and levels of conflicts with immigrants on support for extreme right-wing parties and supports the claim that extreme right-wing parties have found more success in eastern Germany by focusing on some the by-products of reunification, such as xenophobia and dissatisfaction with democracy. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION.................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. v ABS TRACT ...................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I: Right-Wing Extremism and Its Significance in Germany ..................... l Research Questions ...................................................................................................................... 2 Hypotheses ............................................................................................................................... 3 Summary of Findings ................................................................................................... 5 Gennans as an Environment for a Comparative Study ................................................ 6 Study Overview ................................................................................... :........................ 6 CHAPTER II: German Reunification and the Foundation of Inequalities .............. 10 Pre-unification Relationship Between the FRG and GDR ......................................................... 11 Theoretical Framework .............................................................................................................. 13 Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Methods of Expressing Discontent within a Political System ...... 14 Relative Deprivation .............................................................................................................. 15 Reunification Policies ................................................................................................................ 16 Economic Inequality .............................................................................................................. 17 Unemployment. ...................................................................................................................... 19 Right-Wing Extremism: Voter Behavior and Socio-Political Factors ...................................... 20 Democratic Transition ........................................................................................................... 20 The Aftermath of Reunification ................................................................................................. 26 Guest Workers in the FRG and GDR: "Eliminate Unemployment! Stop Immigration!" ...... 27 Chapter Overview ...................................................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER III: Right-Wing Extremist Support .......................................................... 31 Importance of Studying Right-Wing Extremism ....................................................................... 31 Overview of Right-Wing Extremism ..................................................................................... 32 Literature Review ....................................................................................................................... 34 Unemployment: "Gebt den Leute Arbeit, dann ist alles in Ordnung." .................................. 34 Immigration ........................................................................................................................... 37 Satisfaction with Democracy ................................................................................................. 41 Overview and Application to Germany ..................................................................................... 43 VI CHAPTER IV: Descriptive Statistics ..........••••..•..•...•.................•....•••••...........................•.••....... 45 Dependent Variable ................................................................................................................... 46 Independent Variable ................................................................................................................. 47 Overview .................................................................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER V: Inferential Statistics ................................................................................ 59 Theoretical Expectations ............................................................................................................ 59 Methods ...................................................................................................................................... 61 Modell .................................................................................................................................. 64 Model 2 .................................................................................................................................. 65 Models 3 and 4 ....................................................................................................................... 67 Overview .................................................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER VI: Conclusion ............................................................................................. 70 Methodological Shortfalls .......................................................................................................... 71 Suggestion for Future Studies .................................................................................................... 72 Overview of the Study ..............................................................................................................