Belonging and exclusion: the dark side of regional identity in Germany

A collective regional identity is a favourable condition for the acceptance of majority decisions made at the regional level and for the delegation of competencies from the central to regional governments. Moreover, a regional identity can play an important role in times of global challenges. Regional attachment might generate a we-feeling and help individuals to cope better with a complex world. The same feeling, however, might also serve as a basis for exclusionary attitudes. In this article, we analyse regional identity at the Land level in Germany with data from the German General Social Survey. Our results show that regional identity is strong in both the eastern and western parts of the country, with people in the east, surprisingly, identifying with their respective Land slightly more than people in the west, even though the five eastern Länder were only established in 1990 after decades of centralist rule. Furthermore, the dark side of regional identity manifests itself only in eastern Germany, where a stronger regional identity tends to go hand in hand with a greater dislike of foreigners

Responding to Policy Signals? An Experimental Study on Information about Policy Adoption and Data Retention Policy Support in Germany

Objective: We analyze whether and how individuals react to information about the adoption of a particular policy, with a focus on the role of conservatism. Methods: We conducted an online survey experiment on support for data retention in Germany. A recent law on this issue allowed us to test the effects of two policy signals, information about the adoption of a new law (law signal) and information that this followed a Constitutional Court decision (law and court signal), on separate groups of respondents. Results: Our results show a positive effect of each policy signal on support for data retention. The effect of the law signal was even slightly stronger for individuals with conservative beliefs. Conclusion: Illustrating how lock-in effects of policies can work, our study contributes to research on attitudinal policy feedback: creating new legislation also means legitimizing the policy position in question and stating that this norm should be accepted

Sooner or later: the influence of public opinion and religiosity on the enactment of laws recognizing same-sex unions

<p>Starting in the 1990s, almost all Western democracies recognized same-sex partnerships within just over two decades. This study examines which factors accelerated or decelerated these legal changes. It focuses on the effects of several facets of culture: attitudes towards homosexuality in general; attitudes towards gays and lesbians as people; and religiosity. An event history analysis of 19 Western countries shows that the less tolerant people are of gays and lesbians and the greater a country’s percentage of regular attendees of religious services, the longer the time until a same-sex union law is introduced. The results provide new insights into policy effects of culture and point out the importance of distinguishing between the various elements of public opinion.</p