East Germany in Comparative Perspective

East Germany in comparative perspective The German Democratic Republic has recently assumed increasing importance within the Eastern bloc, both economically and strategically, largely as a result of its favourable trading position with the West. This book, written by leading American and British specialists in the field, seeks to illuminate the current position of the GDR in key political, economic and social areas. It looks at the political leadership and changes in the ruling party, the informal ‘comrades’ or social court system, the position of women in politics and society, church–state relations, the economics of consumer shortages, the role of the industrial enterprise in the planning system, foreign economic policies and relations with revolutionary movements in the Third World. It discusses recent developments in the context of the Soviet–East European bloc, in which the apparent uniformity of the past is giving way to the likely- shape and distinctiveness of the East German course in the Gorbachev era and beyond. The Editors: David Childs is Reader in Politics and Director of the Institute of German, Austrian and Swiss Affairs at the University of Nottingham; Thomas A. Baylis is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas, San Antonio and Marilyn Rueschemeyer is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Rhode Island School of Design and Adjunct Associate Professor at Brown University. East Germany in comparative perspective Edited by David Childs, Thomas A. Baylis, Marilyn Rueschemeyer London and New York First published 1989 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge's collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc. 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1989 D. Childs, T.A. Baylis and M. Rueschemeyer All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data East Germany in comparative perspective. 1. East Germany. Social conditions I. Childs, David II. Baylis, Thomas A. III. Rueschemeyer, Marilyn 943.1087′8 ISBN 0-415-00496-9 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data East Germany in comparative perspective / edited by David Childs, Thomas A. Baylis, Marilyn Rueschemeyer. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-415-00496-9 1. Germany (East)–Politics and government. 2. Germany (East)–Social conditions. 3. Germany (East)–Economic conditions. I. Childs, David, 1933– . II. Baylis, Thomas A. III. Rueschemeyer, Marilyn, 1938– DD283.E27 1989 943.1–dc19 88-31913 CIP ISBN 0-203-19203-6 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-19206-0 (Adobe e-Reader Format) ISBN 0-415-00496-9 (Print Edition) Contents Tables vi Figures vii Contributors viii Preface x Abbreviations xi 1. The SED faces the challenges of Ostpolitik and Glasnost David Childs (University of Nottingham) 1 2. The SED after two congresses: party policy in the Gorbachev era Henry Krisch (University of Connecticut) 14 3. Leadership structures and leadership politics in Hungary and the GDR Thomas A. Baylis (University of Texas at San Antonio) 25 4. Social courts in the GDR and comrades’ courts in the Soviet Union: a comparison Nancy Travis Wolfe (University of South Carolina) 44 5. Socialist transformation and gender inequality: women in the GDR and Hungary Marilyn Rueschemeyer (Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University) and Szonja Szelenyi (University of Wisconsin) 59 6. Is the GDR the future of Hungary and the Baltics? Dissent and the Lutheran Church in Eastern Europe Robert F. Goeckel (State University of New York at Geneseo) 82 7. Comparisons of consumer market disequilibria in Hungary, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, and the GDR Irwin L. Collier Jr. (University of Houston) and Manouchehr Mokhtari (University of Houston) 101 8. Enterprise and association in Soviet planning: comparisons with the East German experience Phillip J. Bryson (University of Arizona) 122 9. The foreign economic policies of the GDR and the USSR: The end of autarky? Ronald A. Francisco (University of Kansas) 141 10. The politics of East–South relations: The GDR and Southern Africa Brigitte H. Schulz (Seattle University) 156 Index 173 Tables 1.1 Development of trade between the GDR and FRG 1960–1986 3 3.1 Turnover in SED and HSWP leadership 1970–87 31 3.2 Age and years in office of present leadership (1987) 32 5.1 Distribution of women between the ages of 15 and 54 by economic activity in Hungary 1949–80 63 5.2 Female students in higher education in the GDR, 1951–83 64 5.3 The share of female members of the labour force in different economic sectors in the GDR, 1970–84 65 5.4 Percentage of women in occupational leadership positions in the GDR 66 5.5 Proportion of men and women at selected levels of schooling completed in Hungary 1949–80 67 5.6 The percentage of women among those attending tertiary institutions in Hungary by type of studies, in 1985 68 5.7 Distribution of women employed in manual occupations by skill level in Hungary 1979–80 69 5.8 Percentage of economically active women among economically active persons in the major divisions of national economy in Hungary 1949–80 69 5.9 Proportion of women employed in selected non-manual occupations in Hungary 1960–80 70 6.1 Confessional distribution and institutional strength 95 7.1 Estimated intermarket spillovers for Hungary, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia, 1975 110 7.2 Estimated intermarket spillovers – all wage/salary employee households GDR 1977 113 7.3 Estimates of effective purchasing power: Hungary, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia 1975 114 9.1 Soviet hard currency debt to the West 144 9.2 GDR hard currency debt to the West 149 9.3 Western bank credit ratings of CMEA countries 151 Figures 7.1 (a) Indifference curve representation of consumer preferences (b) Budget- constrained choice set of consumers 103-104 7.2 (a) Consumer’s utility maximizing choice for a given budget and prices (b) Observed quantities, budgets and prices. Unobserved indifference curves to be estimated 105-106 7.3 (a) Quantity constraint for housing. Actual consumption differs from notional demands (b) Effective purchasing power as difference between actual expenditure and minimum expenditure required to remain at same level of utility without quantity constraints 107-108 Contributors Thomas A. Baylis is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and author of The Technical Intelligentsia and the East German Elite (1974) and Governing by Committee: Collegial Leadership in Advanced Societies (1989). Phillip J. Bryson is Professor of Economics at the University of Arizona, and has written Scarcity and Control in Socialism (1976) and Consumers under Socialist Planning (1984), as well as numerous articles on the economics of socialism. David Childs is Professor and Director of the Institute of German, Austrian, and Swiss Affairs at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of numerous books and articles on East German, West German, and British politics, including The German Democratic Republic: Moscow’s German Ally (1983, 2nd edn 1988), editor of Honecker’s Germany (1986), and East Germany to the 1990s: Can it resist Glasnost? (1987). Irwin L. Collier is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Houston. He is the editor of an issue of Comparative Economic Studies (June 1987) devoted to the East German economy and the author of a monograph and several articles also dealing with the subject. His article in this volume is part of a larger project supported by the National Council for Soviet and Eastern European Research. Ronald A. Francisco is Associate Professor of Political Science and Soviet and East European Studies at the University of Kansas. He is co-editor of Berlin Between Two Worlds (1986). His previous articles and books have dealt with the international relations and economic concerns of the GDR and the Soviet bloc. Robert F. Goeckel is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York at Geneseo. His primary area of research interest is church–state relations in Eastern Europe, and he has published a number of articles on that subject in books and such journals as World Politics and Studies in Comparative Communism. Henry Krisch is Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut. He is author of German Politics under Soviet Occupation (1974) and The German Democratic Republic: The Search for Identity (1985) as well as articles on Soviet and GDR politics. His current research focuses on the political and ideological response to social change. Manouchehr Mokhtari is a graduate student in Economics at the University of Houston. Marilyn Rueschemeyer is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Rhode Island School of Design and Adjunct Associate Professor at Brown University. She has written Professional Work and Marriage: An East–West Comparison (1981), co-authored Soviet Emigré Artists: Life and Work in the Soviet Union and the United States (1985), and co-edited The Quality of Life in the German Democratic Republic (forthcoming). Brigitte H. Schulz is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Seattle University. She is co-editor of The Soviet Bloc and the Third World (1988). Szonja Szelenyi is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Stanford University. Nancy Travis Wolfe is Associate Professor in the College of Criminal Justice, University of South Carolina. She has written numerous articles in the field of criminal justice and has conducted research on lay courts in both Germanys under awards from the Fulbright programme and the International Research and Exchanges Board.

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