Abstract
‘Legitimacy’, according to one authoritative definition, ‘is the foundation of such governmental power as is exercised both with a consciousness on the government’s part that it has a right to govern and with some recognition by the governed of that right’.1 But in the case of a revolutionary regime, only the former half of this necessary condition is initially likely to be present. Revolutionary regimes, especially in their ‘heroic’, mobilisational phases, will tend to locate the source of their legitimacy in an ideological doctrine and policies derivative from it. The ‘recognition’ of revolutionary authority by the ‘governed’ is not sought from all groups in society, and not accorded to the regime by many (not necessarily the same) such groups.
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Notes
Dolf Sternberger, ‘Legitimacy’, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, vol. ix, David L. Sills (ed.), ( New York, 1968 ) p. 244.
Peter G. Stillman, ‘The Concept of Legitimacy’, Polity, 7, 1 (Fall 1974)39.
T. H. Rigby, ‘A Conceptual Approach to Authority, Power and Policy in the Soviet Union’, in T. H. Rigby, A. H. Brown and Peter Reddaway, eds, Authority, Power and Policy in the USSR (London, 1980 ) p. 9.
Richard Löwenthal, ‘Zur Umwertung unserer Werte. Politische Legitimität und kultureller Wandel in modernen Industriegesellschaften’, L’76, no. 11 (1979)147–8.
Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone, ‘Toward a Theory of Soviet Leadership Maintenance’, in Paul Cocks, Robert V. Daniels, Nancy Heer (eds), The Dynamics of Soviet Politics (Cambridge, 1976 ) p. 54.
Dieter Staritz, ‘Formen und Wandlungen der Austragung innerer Konflikte in der DDR’, Deutschland Archiv, Sonderheft (1979) p. 92.
For a thoughtful discussion of these issues, together with some conceptual considerations, see Peter C. Ludz, ‘Legitimacy in a Divided Nation: The Case of the German Democratic Republic’, in Bogdan Denitch (ed.), Legitimation of Regimes, SAGE (for the International Sociological Association) (Beverly Hills, 1979 ) pp. 161–75.
Thomas Baylis, ‘Economic Reform as Ideology’, Comparative Politics 3, 3 (1971)211–29; for a full and formal statement of economic melioration as the party’s main goal, see Program der Sozialistischen Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Berlin, 1976) p. 29.
Melvin Croan, East Germany: The Soviet Connection The Washington Papers, vol. 4, no. 36 (Beverly Hills, 1976).
Henry Krisch, ‘Nation Building and Regime Stability in the DDR’, East Central Europe vol. 3, part 1 (1976)15–29.
It will be apparent that the three policy lines discussed in this chapter, national, economic, and party-political, correspond roughly to Weber’s traditional, rational and charismatic grounds of legitimacy. I have not chosen here to attempt any elaborate linkage of GDR policies with Weberian categories; as is generally recognised, particular policies will diverge from ideal types in any case. For a general assessment of the GDR’s stability in a broader, comparative East European setting, see William A Welsh, ‘Understanding Stability in East European Political Systems’, Berichte des Bundesinstituts für ostwissenschaftliche und internationale Studien no. 2 (1980) esp. pp. 9–10.
There is an extensive literature on the origins and early phases of development of the GDR. Of particular relevance for this chapter is Dietrich Staritz, Sozialismus in einem halben Land (Berlin, 1976 ).
Alfred Kosing and Walter Schmidt, ‘Geburt und Gedeihen der sozialistischen deutschen Nation’, Einheit 34, 9/10 (1979)1068–75.
Albert Norden, ‘Ein historisches Wendepunkt’, Einheit 33, 12 (1978) p. 127; Helmut Meier and Walter Schmidt, ‘Tradition und sozialistisches Bewusstsein’, ibid., pp. 122–24.
Jürgen Rühle, ‘Nachdenken über Preussen’, Deutschland Archiv vol. 13, 5 (1980)479–82;
Reinhard Brühl, ‘Carl von Clausewitz — Patriot und Militärtheoretiker’, Einheit, 35, 3 (1980)314–21; Honecker’s speech at the opening meeting of the ‘Martin Luther Committee of the GDR’, in Neues Deutschland, 14–15 June 1980, p. 3;
Ronald Asmus, ‘GDR Celebrates Martin Luther’, RAD Background Report/155, 25 June 1980.
Henry Krisch, ‘Soviet-GDR Relations in the Honecker Era’, East Central Europe vol. 6, part 2 (1979)152–72.
See Krisch, ‘Soviet-GDR Relations in the Honecker Era’, East Central Europe 6, part 2 (1979)152–72. The political consequences of this dependence are unlikely to be lessened by the relative decline of Soviet energy provisioning; apparently, Soviet oil deliveries to the GDR in 198186 will not exceed current annual levels of 19 million tons.
See Joachim Nawrocki, ‘Rote Zahlen bei den Roten’, Die Zeit 4 July 1980, p. 18
and Ronald D. Asmus, ‘The East German Search for Oil’, RAD Background Report/187, 25 July 1980.
Heinz Hoffman, ‘Wir wachen über das Errungene’, Einheit 34, 9/10 (1979) 957; Hoffman has declared that, ‘In truth there are and have been no units of our National People’s Army in any African country whatsoeverchrw…’
(Heinz Hoffman, ‘Die sozialistische Militärkoalition — zuverlässiger Schild des Sozialismus’, Einheit, 35, 5 (1980)476).
Hans-Dieter Schulz, ‘Die SED will eine Wende erzwingen’, Deutschland Archiv 13, 1 (1980)4–5. It is noteworthy that the chief of GDR security, SED Politburo member Erich Mielke, felt called upon, in an article devoted to security challenges, subversion, dissent, etc., to denounce industrial and economic delinquencies, including arson and on-the-job accidents, and to rail against ‘neglect of duty, sloppiness (Schlamperei) and carelessness’ in industrial life.
Erich Mielke, ‘Verantwortungsbewusst für die Gewährleistung der staatlichen Sicherheit’ Einheit 35, 2 (1980)157.
For a general review, see Harald Kleinschmid, ‘Das grosse Schweigen’, Deutschland Archiv vol. 12, 9 (1979)899–905.
On the weakness of current cultural policy as a legitimating instrument, see the perceptive summary by H. G. Huettich, ‘Dissent and Systemic Stability in East Germany’, Studies in Comparative Communism 12, 2–3 (1979)254–62.
See Ronald Asmus, ‘A New Life for Dissident Writers in the GDR?’ RAD Background Report/210, 19 Aug. 1980.
Walter Connor, ‘Generations and Politics in the USSR’, Problems of Communism 24, 5 (Sept.—Oct. 1975)20–31.
Günter Kertzscher, ‘Chaos und Ordnung’, Neues Deutschland, 26–7 July 1980, p. 9.
Two perceptive analysts of GDR social development came to the conclusion that ‘neither among the younger nor among the older generation in the GDR is a growing “socialist consciousness” observable’. Ralf Rytlewski and Dieter Voight, ‘Soziale und politische Struktur der DDR im Wandel’, Deutschland Archiv, Sonderheft (1979) p. 170.
Kurt Hager, ‘Unser Staat-unser Stolz’, Einheit 34, 8 (1979)800. This article was given first as the main report at an international scholarly-political conference marking the GDR’s 30th anniversary.
See also, Willi Stoph, ‘Staat und Staatsbewusstsein im 30. Jahr unserer Republik’, Einheit 34, 9/10 (1979)910–14.
Peter C. Ludz, Mechanismen der Herrschaftssicherung (Munich, 1980) esp. pp. 189–206.
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© 1982 T. H. Rigby and Ferenc Fehér
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Krisch, H. (1982). Political Legitimation in the German Democratic Republic. In: Rigby, T.H., Fehér, F. (eds) Political Legitimation in Communist States. St Antony’s/Macmillan Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05981-2_7
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