Today’s knowledge about elites in East Germany since 1990 is still shaped by the convergence perspective, which implicitly defines West Germany as the benchmark of desired development. In this contribution, we challenge existing assumptions by changing the reference frame. To do so, we compare a sample of office holders in politics and the economy (1990–2020) in East Germany with corresponding elite members in selected countries of Eastern Central Europe (N = 2439). We differentiate between two groups within the elite of East Germany defined by the place of their socialisation prior to 1989, which happened either in East Germany or in West Germany. We consider their political learning process, professional background as well as their age and gender. While East Germany’s regional elites are, in many aspects of their social profiles, very similar to the national elites in East Central Europe, our analysis also identifies important differences. Moreover, we argue that for a better understanding of political elites the question of political socialisation and experience should be at the centre of further investigation.
Today’s knowledge about elites in East Germany since 1990 is still shaped by the convergence perspective, which implicitly defines West Germany as the benchmark of desired development. In this contribution, we challenge existing assumptions by changing the reference frame. To do so, we compare a sample of office holders in politics and the economy (1990–2020) in East Germany with corresponding elite members in selected countries of Eastern Central Europe (N = 2439). We differentiate between two groups within the elite of East Germany defined by the place of their socialisation prior to 1989, which happened either in East Germany or in West Germany. We consider their political learning process, professional background as well as their age and gender. While East Germany’s regional elites are, in many aspects of their social profiles, very similar to the national elites in East Central Europe, our analysis also identifies important differences. Moreover, we argue that for a better understanding of political elites the question of political socialisation and experience should be at the centre of further investigation.
This contribution explains how a specific constellation of Swiss consulting experts, financial advisors, and diplomats became involved in the economic restructuring of eastern Germany after November 1989. Swiss engagements reveal that capital did not merely “flow” across unifying Germany's borders, as economists’ definitions of foreign direct investment suggest. Rather, facilitators within and especially beyond Germany actively promoted investments. Business involving foreigners was often grounded in socialist-era trade activities that united profit seekers from East and West Germany, Switzerland, and other nations. As foreign engagements in unifying Germany's economy illustrate, mediators mattered. Pasts persisted. Debt and investment were intertwined. The course of public divesture and state-sponsored private investment in post-Wall Germany suggests future scholars pay closer attention to individuals and entities engaged in exchanging market information, not so much within individual nations as between them.
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