Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-31T20:48:46.936Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Partial Effectiveness of Indoctrination in Autocracies

Evidence from the German Democratic Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2021

Get access

Abstract

Dictators depend on a committed bureaucracy to implement their policy preferences. But how do they induce loyalty and effort within their civil service? The authors study indoctrination through forced military service as a cost-effective strategy for achieving this goal. Conscription allows the regime to expose recruits, including future civil servants, to intense “political training” in a controlled environment, which should improve system engagement. To test this hypothesis, the authors analyze archival data on over 370,000 cadres from the former German Democratic Republic. Exploiting the introduction of mandatory service in the gdr in 1962 for causal identification, they find a positive effect of conscription on bureaucrats’ system engagement. Additional analyses indicate that this effect likely did not result from deep norm internalization. Findings are more compatible with the idea that political training familiarized recruits with elite preferences, allowing them to behave strategically in accordance with the rules of the game.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adena, Maja, Enikolopov, Ruben, Petrova, Maria, Santarosa, Veronica, and Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina. 2015. “Radio and the Rise of The Nazis in Prewar Germany.Quarterly Journal of Economics 130, no. 4: 18851939. At https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjv030.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akerlof, George A., and Kranton, Rachel E.. 2000. “Economics and Identity.Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, no. 3: 715–53. At https://doi.org/10.1162/003355300554881.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bachman, Jerald G., Peter, Freedman-Doan, Segal, David R., and O’Malley, Patrick M.. 2000. “Distinctive Military Attitudes among U.S. Enlistees, 1976–1997: Self-Selection versus Socialization.Armed Forces & Society 26, no. 4: 561–85. At https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X0002600404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barany, Zoltan. 2018. “Soldiers of Arabia: Explaining Compulsory Military Service in the Gulf.Journal of Arabian Studies 8, no. 1: 118–40. At https://doi.org/10.1080/21534764.2018.1551471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Best, Heinrich, and Stefan, Hornbostel. 2003. “Die Analyse prozess-produzierter Daten am Beispiel des Kaderdatenspeichers des Ministerrates der DDR.” Historical Social Research 28, 1/2: 108–27. At https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.28.2003.1/2.108-127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyer, Christoph. 1999. “Kaderpolitik und zentrale Planbürokratie in der SBZ/DDR.” In Stefan, Hornbostel, ed., Sozialistische Eliten: horizontale und vertikale Differenzierungsmuster in der DDR. Opladen, Germany: Leske + Budrich Verlag: 1131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brehm, John, and Scott, Gates. 1999. Working, Shirking, and Sabotage: Bureaucratic Response to a Democratic Public. Republic. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Bundestag. 1995. Materialien der Enquete-Kommission, “Aufarbeitung von Geschichte Und Folgen der SED-Diktatur in Deutschland,” vols. 1–14. Wahlperiode des Deutschen Bundestages. Baden/Frankfurt, Germany: Deutscher Bundestag.Google Scholar
Bundestag. 2000. Materialien der Enquete-Kommission, “Aufarbeitung von Geschichte und Folgen der SED-Diktatur in Deutschland,” vols. 1–8. Wahlperiode des Deutschen Bundestages. Baden/Frankfurt: Deutscher Bundestag.Google Scholar
Cantoni, Davide, Chen, Yuyu, Yang, David Y., Yuchtman, Noam, and Jane Zhang, Y.. 2017. “Curriculum and Ideology.Journal of Political Economy 125, no. 2: 338–92. At https://doi.org/10.1086/690951.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darden, Keith. 2008. “The Integrity of Corrupt States: Graft as an Informal State Institution.Politics & Society 36, no. 1: 3559. At https://doi.org/10.1177/0032329207312183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Juan, Alexander, Haass, Felix, and Pierskalla, Jan. 2021a. “Replication files for: The Partial Effectiveness of Indoctrination in Autocracies: Evidence from the German Democratic Republic.” Harvard Dataverse, V1. At https://10.7910/DVN/XKPEAN.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Juan, Alexander, Haass, Felix, and Pierskalla, Jan 2021b. “Supplementary material for: The Partial Effectiveness of Indoctrination in Autocracies: Evidence from the German Democratic Republic.” At https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887121000095.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixit, Avinash K. 2010. “Democracy, Autocracy and Bureaucracy.Journal of Globalization and Development 1, no. 1. At https://doi.org/10.2202/1948-1837.1010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dukalskis, Alexander, and Johannes, Gerschewski. 2017. “What Autocracies Say (and What Citizens Hear): Proposing Four Mechanisms of Autocratic Legitimation.Contemporary Politics 23, no. 3: 251–68. At https://doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2017.1304320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., and Stoker, Laura. 2011. “Caught in the Draft: The Effects of Vietnam Draft Lottery Status on Political Attitudes.American Political Science Review 105, no. 2: 221–37. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055411000141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ertola, Navajas, Gabriela, Paula López Villalba, Rossi, Martín, and Vazquez, Antonia. 2019. “Shaping Personality and Beliefs: The Role of Military Conscription.” Working Paper. Universidad de San Andres, Department of Economics. At https://vox.lacea.org/?q=abstract/shaping_personality_beliefs.Google Scholar
Fize, Etienne, and Charles, Louis-Sidois. 2018. “Military Service and Political Behaviors.” At https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2905732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fraser Institute. 2019. Economic Freedom of the World: 2019 Annual Report. Vancouver, Canada: Fraser Institute. At https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/economic-freedom-of-the-world-2019-annual-report, accessed May 27, 2021.Google Scholar
Frye, Timothy, Reuter, Ora John, and Szakonyi, David. 2014. “Political Machines at Work: Voter Mobilization and Electoral Subversion in the Workplace.World Politics 66, no. 2 (April): 195–28. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S004388711400001X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frye, Timothy, Reuter, Ora John, and Szakonyi, David. 2019. “Vote Brokers, Clientelist Appeals, and Voter Turnout: Evidence from Russia and Venezuela.World Politics 71, no. 4 (October): 710–46. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887119000078.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia, Ryan J. B. 2015. “National Service and Civic Engagement: A Natural Experiment.Political Behavior 37, no. 4: 845–64. At https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-014-9293-1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gebauer, Ronald. 2006. “Wo Geht’s Nach Oben? Karrieremobilität von DDR-Kadern Zwischen Aufstieg, Rückstufung und Abstieg—Die Entwicklung eines Hierarchiepositionsschemas von DDR-Führungskadern für Längsschnittdaten als methodische Herausforderung.” In Heinrich, Best and Dietmar, Remy, eds., Die Geplante Gesellschaft: Analysen personenbezogener Massendatenspeicher der DDR. Jena, Germany: SFB 580 Mitteilungen, Heft 18.Google Scholar
Geddes, Barbara, Wright, Joseph, and Frantz, Erica. 2014. “Autocratic Breakdown and Regime Transitions: A New Data Set.Perspectives on Politics 12, no. 2: 313–31. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592714000851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gläßel, Christian, and Paula, Katrin. 2019. “Sometimes Less Is More: Censorship, News Falsification, and Disapproval in 1989 East Germany.American Journal of Political Science 64, no. 3: 682–98. At https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1961. Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates, 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books/Doubleday.Google Scholar
Gose, Mark N. 1995. “The Role of the Military in Building Political Community: The Case of the Two German States.” Ph.D. diss., University of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Grafe, Roman. 2010. Die Schuld der Mitläufer: Anpassen oder Widerstehen in der DDR. Munich, Germany: Pantheon Verlag.Google Scholar
Green, Amelia Hoover. 2017. “Armed Group Institutions and Combatant Socialization: Evidence from El Salvador.Journal of Peace Research 54, no. 5: 687700. At https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343317715300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, Donald P., Davenport, Tiffany C., and Kolby, Hanson. 2019. “Are There Long-Term Effects of the Vietnam Draft on Political Attitudes or Behavior? Apparently Not.Journal of Experimental Political Science 6, no. 2: 7180. At https://doi.org/10.1017/XPS.2018.18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, Mark. 2002. “Coercion, Compliance, and the Collapse of the Soviet Command Economy.Economic History Review 55, no. 3: 397433. At https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0289.00226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herspring, Dale R., and Volgyes, Ivan. 1977. “The Military as an Agent of Political Socialization in Eastern Europe: A Comparative Framework.Armed Forces & Society 3, no. 2: 249–70. At https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X7700300207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Haifeng. 2018. “The Pathology of Hard Propaganda.Journal of Politics 80, no. 3: 1034–38. At https://doi.org/10.1086/696863.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Ellen, and Grupp, Fred W.. 1982. “Political Socialization in the Soviet Military.Armed Forces & Society 8, no. 3: 355–87. At https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X8200800301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasza, Gregory J. 1995. The Conscription Society: Administered Mass Organizations. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Krebs, Ronald R. 2004. “A School for the Nation? How Military Service Does Not Build Nations, and How It Might.International Security 28, no. 4: 85124. At https://doi.org/10.1162/0162288041588278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuran, Timur. 1989. “Sparks and Prairie Fires: A Theory of Unanticipated Political Revolution.Public Choice 61, no. 1: 4174. At https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00116762.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Stephen J. 2010 Hitler and Nazi Germany, 2nd ed. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lipsky, Michael. 1980. Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Service. New York, N.Y.: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Little, Andrew T. 2017. “Propaganda and Credulity.” Games and Economic Behavior 102, March: 224–32. At https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geb.2016.12.006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
March, James G., and Olsen, Johan P.. 2010. Rediscovering Institutions. Riverside, N.Y.: Free Press.Google Scholar
Miller, Charles, Barber, Benjamin, and Bakar, Shuvo. 2018. “Indoctrination and Coercion in Agent Motivation: Evidence from Nazi Germany.” Rationality and Society 30, no. 2: 189219. At https://doi.org/10.1177/1043463118754875.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Gary J., and Whitford, Andrew B.. 2007. “The Principal’s Moral Hazard: Constraints on the Use of Incentives in Hierarchy.Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 17, no. 2: 213–33. At https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mul004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Marcus, and Smith, Jennifer C.. 2015. “In the Shadow of the Gulag: Worker Discipline under Stalin.Journal of Comparative Economics 43, no. 3: 531–48. At https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2015.01.005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, Tanja R. 2012. “From Rebel Governance to State Consolidation—Dynamics of Loyalty and the Securitisation of the State in Eritrea.Geoforum 43, no. 4: 793803. At https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.01.009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nawrocki, Joachim. 1967. “Privilegien Wie in Einem Fürstentum.” Spiegel, 40. At https://www.spiegel.de/politik/privilegien-wie-in-einem-fuerstentum-a-d2308a62-0002-0001-0000-000046353363, accessed May 27, 2021.Google Scholar
Peisakhin, Leonid, and Arturas, Rozenas. 2018. “Electoral Effects of Biased Media: Russian Television in Ukraine.American Journal of Political Science 62, no. 3: 535–50. At https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ripp, Christian. 2000. “Die ’sozialistische Soldatenpersönlichkeit’ : Die soziale Konstruktion des preußischen Wehrpflichtigen in der DDR.Männlichkeiten: The Dark Continent (?) 4, no. 1-2: 8297. At https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/searchtype/series/id/61/docId/1501/start/2/rows/10, accessed May 27, 2021.Google Scholar
Rogg, Matthias. 2008. Armee des Volkes? Militär und Gesellschaft in der DDR, 1st ed. Berlin, Germany: Ch. Links.Google Scholar
Ross, Sabine. 1997. “Karriere Auf Der Lochkarte. Der ‘Zentrale Kaderdatenspeicher’ Des Ministerrats Der DDR.” In Arnd, Bauerkämper, Jürgen, Danyel, Peter, Hübner, and Sabine, Ross, eds., Gesellschaft Ohne Eliten? Führungsgruppen in der DDR. Berlin, Germany: Metropol Verlag: 109–31.Google Scholar
Rozenas, Arturas, and Zhukov, Yuri M.. 2019. “Mass Repression and Political Loyalty: Evidence from Stalin’s ‘Terror by Hunger’.American Political Science Review 113, no. 2: 569–83. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055419000066.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salheiser, Axel. 2005. “Die ökonomische Elite der DDR im Datenbestand des Teilprojekts A1 des SFB 580: Leitungspersonal der volkseigenen Industrie im Zentralen Kaderdatenspeicher.Historical Social Research 30, no. 2: 7395. At https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.30.2005.2.73-95.Google Scholar
Salheiser, Axel. 2009. Parteitreu,plangemäß,professionell?: Rekrutierungsmuster und Karriereverläufe von DDR-Industriekadern. Wiesbaden, Germany: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selb, Peter, and Simon, Munzert. 2018. “Examining a Most Likely Case for Strong Campaign Effects: Hitler’s Speeches and the Rise of the Nazi Party, 1927–1933.American Political Science Review 112, no. 4: 1050–66. At https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055418000424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, Carl, and Stiglitz, Joseph E.. 1984. “Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device.American Economic Review 74, no. 3: 433–44. At https://www.jstor.org/stable/1804018.Google Scholar
Svolik, Milan W. 2013. “Contracting on Violence: The Moral Hazard in Authoritarian Repression and Military Intervention in Politics.Journal of Conflict Resolution 5, no. 5: 765–94. At https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002712449327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenzke, Rüdiger. 2013. Ulbrichts Soldaten: Die Nationale Volksarmee 1956 bis 1971. Berlin, Germany: Ch. Links Verlag.Google Scholar
Wolle, Stefan. 2013. Die heile Welt der Diktatur: Alltag und Herrschaft in der DDR 1971–1989. Berlin, Germany: Ch. Links Verlag.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

de Juan et al. supplementary material

de Juan et al. supplementary material

Download de Juan et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 260.9 KB
Supplementary material: Link

de Juan et al. Dataset

Link