The Dynamics of Informational Cascades: The Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig, East Germany, 1989–91

1994/10/01 by Susanne Lohmann · 1,054 citations
Arts and Humanities · Engineering · Social Sciences · #Art #Cascade #Communism #Demographic economics #Dynamics (music) #Eastern European Communism and Reforms #Economic history #Economics #Engineering #European history and politics #German #German History and Society #History #Law #Period (music) #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Sociology #Turnout #Voting

paper · doi:10.2307/2950679

published in World Politics 47(1), 42-101 (Cambridge University Press)

openalex publication_date 1994/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

This article analyzes the dynamics of turnout and the political impact of five cycles of protest, consisting of forty-two mass demonstrations that occurred on Mondays in Leipzig over the period 1989–91. These demonstrations are interpreted as an informational cascade that publicly revealed some of the previously hidden information about the malign nature of the East German communist regime. Once this information became publicly available, the viability of the regime was undermined. The Monday demonstrations subsequently died a slow death as their informational role declined.

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