West German Leadership

Political attitudes and occupational socialization of West German elites. Topics: Career characteristics and short presentation of occupation career; characterization of good and bad sides of the current professional position (scale); contacts with Federal Parliament committees, Federal Parliament fractions, organizations of the Federal Ministries, trade unions and other associations or special interest groups; most important sources of information; assessment of the influence of various actors on the politics of the Federal Republic; general characterization of the power structure in the Federal Republic; most important problems of the FRG; judgement on government policies as well as German domestic and foreign policy; attitude to demonstrations and the continuation of the SPD/FDP government; judgement on the political climate in the Federal Republic since change of government 1969 and supposed change of political life in the FRG in the case of a CDU/CSU government; judgement on the stability of the political system in the FRG; perceived jeopardy to political order from left-wing radical or right-wing radical forces; expected changes of society in the FRG in the coming years; judgement on the economic situation; attitude to a constitution reform; judgement on decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court and attitude to the distribution of authority between the Federal Parliament and the Federal Constitutional Court; party preference and party identification; image of the parties (semantic differential, attitude to democracy, scale); social origins; political discussions and the significance of religion in parental home; political difference of opinion with parents; party preference of parents. Demography: age; sex; religious denomination; religiousness; religious training; present and past offices held. Interviewer rating: place of interview; time of day of interview; date of interview; length of interview; number of interruptions of interview; presence of other persons; willingness to cooperate or attempts to break off by respondent; specification of difficulties during the course of the interview.