The Question of Legacies: Socialist Elites in Post-Socialist Transformations—East Germany’s Elites from a Comparative Perspective (1990–2020)

Abstract

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.