Rotten Foundations - by Peter W Sperlich (Hardcover)

About the Book

Sperlich examines the ideological foundations of the socialist regime of the former German Democratic Republic. He provides a detailed analysis of the nature of the GDR's legitimating ideology and of the reasons why the ideology ultimately failed to legitimate the regime. The study uses primary source documents extensively as well as the little existing secondary literature.

This is part of Sperlich's larger project dealing with the government, society, economy, political participation, and administration of the law and the system of courts of the GDR. This definitive treatment of the GDR provides the background essential to an understanding of all communist systems of the twentieth century. As such, it is vital reading for scholars, students, and other researchers seeking to understand the rise and ultimate collapse of communist systems and, in particular, the decline of the German Democratic Republic.

Book Synopsis

Sperlich examines the ideological foundations of the socialist regime of the former German Democratic Republic. He provides a detailed analysis of the nature of the GDR's legitimating ideology and of the reasons why the ideology ultimately failed to legitimate the regime. The study uses primary source documents extensively as well as the little existing secondary literature.

This is part of Sperlich's larger project dealing with the government, society, economy, political participation, and administration of the law and the system of courts of the GDR. This definitive treatment of the GDR provides the background essential to an understanding of all communist systems of the twentieth century. As such, it is vital reading for scholars, students, and other researchers seeking to understand the rise and ultimate collapse of communist systems and, in particular, the decline of the German Democratic Republic.

Review Quotes

"Professor Sperlich has written a lucid and comprehensive critique of the theoretical and methodological core of Marxist-Leninist philosophy, as practiced in the USSR and Eastern Europe."-George W. Breslauer University of California, Berkeley

?[S]perlich sheds new light here on complex and contentious issues within the confines of a remarkably compact volume, greatly improving our understanding of the origins, decline, and disintegration of communist systems. He also demonstrates the courage to wrestle with the timeless questions of the relationship between religious and utopian impulses, the pursuit of power, and the difficulty of gratifying the great variety of contradictory needs and aspirations human beings harbor.?-Modern Age

?Rotten Foundations contributes to the sparse Western literature in English about the GDR....Recommended. Graduate and research collections.?-Choice

"ÝS¨perlich sheds new light here on complex and contentious issues within the confines of a remarkably compact volume, greatly improving our understanding of the origins, decline, and disintegration of communist systems. He also demonstrates the courage to wrestle with the timeless questions of the relationship between religious and utopian impulses, the pursuit of power, and the difficulty of gratifying the great variety of contradictory needs and aspirations human beings harbor."-Modern Age

"Rotten Foundations contributes to the sparse Western literature in English about the GDR....Recommended. Graduate and research collections."-Choice

"[S]perlich sheds new light here on complex and contentious issues within the confines of a remarkably compact volume, greatly improving our understanding of the origins, decline, and disintegration of communist systems. He also demonstrates the courage to wrestle with the timeless questions of the relationship between religious and utopian impulses, the pursuit of power, and the difficulty of gratifying the great variety of contradictory needs and aspirations human beings harbor."-Modern Age

About the Author

Peter W. Sperlich is a Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley and a member of the Program in Law and Society. He has written extensively on legal and conflict issues.