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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: FROM RED TO GREEN IN ... - Isioma

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presence there meant that the issue <strong>of</strong> violence and its perception <strong>of</strong> democracy<br />

were constantly under debate.<br />

Second, the rise <strong>of</strong> ecological concerns played an important role in the<br />

AL’s evolution. Environmental issues proved key in keeping the new<br />

organization’s diverse components together. In addition, the AL’s involvement<br />

with West Germany’s Green Party meant that the AL was under constant<br />

pressure to revise its stance on violence.<br />

Finally, historical events, <strong>of</strong>ten focused in West Berlin, led the AL’s<br />

members increasingly to renounce their radical beliefs. Over the course <strong>of</strong> the<br />

eighties, these events led AL members to distance themselves from violence and<br />

question their support for the GDR. The fall <strong>of</strong> the Berlin Wall in 1989 initially<br />

unleashed a flood <strong>of</strong> utopian hopes by the Left that the end <strong>of</strong> the GDR regime<br />

would mean radical changes in both East and West Germany. When these<br />

changes failed to materialize, the AL turned back to parliamentary democracy in<br />

a newly unified Germany. Its experiences over the last decade made this not<br />

only palatable, but desirable.

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