Explaining the GDR's economic strategy

Bibliographic Data

ID9959596
AuthorsThomas A Baylis (The University of Texas at San Antonio, corresponding author)
Year1986
Volume40
Issue2
Pages381-420
Publication date1986-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Organization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-8183 • E-ISSN: 1531-5088
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0020818300027181
OpenAlexW2048908995
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited23

The GDR's fundamental economic strategy since 1971, as reflected in but also modified by its response to the “price shocks” of the 1970s and the ensuing credit squeeze of the early 1980s, has been shaped in important measure by the pressures imposed and the opportunities offered by its complex relationship with the German Federal Republic. The direct and indirect constraints resulting from the GDR's status as junior partner in its alliance with the Soviet Union, the terms of the still tenuous accommodation the regime has worked out with its own citizens, and changes and conflicts within the political elite have also influenced the GDR's choices. The shortterm and long-term measures taken in response to the shocks appear to have been surprisingly successful, even though there is evidence that two of the latter–the return to a policy of economic reform “in small steps” and the utilization of the GDR's “West German connection” to restore its creditworthiness and strengthen its access to Western technology–proceeded only in the face of internal and external controversy. The GDR's apparent success in comparison to its East European neighbors must be attributed to a number of factors, only one of which is its special relationship with the Federal Republic

Accommodation · Alliance · Development economics · Economic policy · Economic system · Economics · Elite · Face (sociological concept · Geography · German · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Soviet union · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · European history and politics · German History and Society · Law

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