AN ACADEMY IN TRANSITION - ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS AND FAILURE IN THE PROCESS OF GERMAN UNIFICATION

This paper analyzes the transformation of East Germany's R&D system in the unification period after 1989. East Germany's transformation proc ess was more profound and rapid than those in the other formerly commu nist countries: the difference lay in the fact hat it moved alongside a complete institutional model (the West German) which gave the proces s a clear direction. This paper briefly describes the transformation a t an institutional level, but then focuses on a set of individual rese arch organizations: the institutes of the old DDR Academy of Sciences. A constrained-choice model is used to explain the wide variety of tra nsformation outcomes (dissolution or preservation). This analysis show s that the Academy's institutes were threatened to varying degrees by the turbulent changes in their environment; that various opportunities for strategic action were open to them; that they used these opportun ities in different ways; and that these factors together can plausibly explain the outcomes of the transformation.