Submissive Helpers of the Socialist Unity Party? The Role and Function of Bloc Parties in the Multiparty System of the German Democratic Republic up to 1989/90 and Changes in Tasks of the Democratic Farmers’ Party of Germany
Abstract
Abstract ‘Socialist democracy’, as practised in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, Deutsche Demokratische Republik , 1949–1990), entailed no guarantee of freedom, individual rights, or legal certainty, in contrast to the liberal meaning usually associated with the word ‘democracy’. This state form ‘postulated’ by the Socialist Unity Party ( Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands , SED) (Morina, 2023, 108, 108–111) was based on the teleological assumption that ‘progress’ would assert itself as a matter of natural law.
Fields of Study & Subjects
German History and Society
Electoral Systems and Political Participation
German legal
social
and political studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Palgrave studies in political history.
- Pages
- 53–77
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter