Quote Originally Posted by Muddy View Post
I always wondered how much of that comes from East Germany's past as a socialist state.
I guess I have to clarify this point.

The system of government of East Germany from about 1961 to 1989 wasn't socialistic in reality. My pov is that true socialistic political systems don't exist or can exist for long, because they're not stable.

I'd label the form of governent in former East Germany as a covert dictatorship. The socialistic political system was established by some elitist groups, and was largely unwanted by the majority of people.
Why I call it a dictatorship? Because there was only one political party. No truly free elections. Because when there is only one political party, what's the point to vote at all?

And when it comes to political systems there are some distinctions between socialistic, communistic and social-democratic.

Socialistic doesn't necessarily means democratic, but social-democratic means democratic.
The influence of socalistic and non-democratic political parties in Germany is very small nowadays, but there is a tradition of social-democratic parties. And that means average citiziens are involved in political debates and decisions.