Pegida in the “Valley of the Ignorant”. Conceptions of democracy among Dresden’s and Düsseldorf ’s citizens and the participants of Pegida protests

While the GDR still lasted it was nearly impossible to receive West-German television stations in Dresden. Several authors have assumed that undemocratic orientations have therefore survived there longer and have made Pegida possible. On the basis of representative surveys among Dresden’s and Düsseldorf ’s population (1998, 2000) and a survey among Pegida participants (2015/16) it is analyzed to which extent these assumptions prove to be true. The effect of receiving West-German television turns out to be a minor one and the differences between citizens’ attitudes in Dresden and Düsseldorf are gradual. The democratic concepts Pegida participants hold only deviate slightly from these. The greatest difference lies in their greater emphasis on direct democracy by means of referenda.