East German Traditional Centralism: An Alternative Route to Economic Reconstruction

Abstract

This article is a response to the question of why the German Democratic Republic (GDR) has not demonstrated any inclination to adopt economic reforms, although most socialist countries have. Since the early 1980s, the GDR has made extensive efforts to refine its planning organization and techniques. Continual changes, less dramatic than those announced by the Soviet Union and some other socialist countries, were long considered plan perfecting rather than economic reform. This article reviews some highlights of the East German plan amelioration effort and attempts to show how the success achieved by Planvervollkommnung has been at least partially responsible for the GDR's reluctance to embrace glasnost and perestroika. The prospects for change in the current GDR position are discussed. The East German determination to avoid fundamental, systemic change persists, and there is as yet no acknowledged willingness to adopt market-oriented economic reform or pursue dramatic changes in property rights. One should observe, however, that the GDR has since the beginning retained a private handicrafts sector and private ownership of land.