The Politics of Economic Decline in East Germany, 1945-1989 - by Jeffrey Kopstein (Paperback)

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Book Synopsis

Jeffrey Kopstein offers the first comprehensive study of East German economic policy over the course of the state's forty-year history. Analyzing both the making of economic policy at the national level and the implementation of specific policies on the shop floor, he provides new and essential background to the revolution of 1989. In particular, he shows how decisions made at critical junctures in East Germany's history led to a pattern of economic decline and worker dissatisfaction that contributed to eventual political collapse. East Germany was generally considered to have the most successful economy in the Eastern Bloc, but Kopstein explores what prevented the country's leaders from responding effectively to pressing economic problems. He depicts a regime caught between the demands of a disaffected working class whose support was crucial to continued political stability, an intractable bureaucracy, an intolerant but surprisingly weak Soviet patron state, and a harsh international economic climate. Rather than pushing for genuine economic change, the East German Communist Party retreated into what Kopstein calls a 'campaign economy' in which an endless series of production campaigns was used to squeeze greater output from an inherently inefficient economic system.

Originally published in 1996.

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Review Quotes

"A thoughtful well-informed book. It provides many insights into the deeply flawed political and economic systems of the GDR. . . . An important and valuable contribution." -- German Studies Review

"An original and persuasive analysis." -- Journal of Modern History

"Scholars and students of any of the former Soviet bloc countries or of communist China should find Kopstein's study interesting and stimulating." -- History: Reviews of New Books

"Well-written. . . . Highly recommended to readers interested in post-war Germany and pre-1989 East German politics." -- CHOICE

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