German Democratic Republic

The German Democratic Republic is a nation in the Eastern Bloc, founded in 1949 from the Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany. While for much of its history it has been ruled as a one party Marxist-Leninist state, after the ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev to leadership of the Soviet Union and by extension the Eastern Bloc, East Germany was strong armed into adopting liberal reforms. This included the first multi-party elections in the country since its foundation. Nevertheless, the SED (Socialist Unity Party) still dominates the political sphere and some critics (both in the West and the East) have criticised the elections for not being fair, as the electoral commission is partisan. As East Germany continues to lag behind in terms of ensuring democracy and civil rights, compared to its other colleagues in the Eastern Bloc, it has begun to be somewhat of an embarrassment to Moscow and Gorbachev's ideas of "socialism with a human face'.