THE REGULATION OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS IN E AST-GERMANY BETWEEN EXOGENOUS PATH DEPENDENCY AND ENDOGENOUS DETERMINANTS

The paper deals with the institutional transformation in East Germany focusing, as cases in point, on the municipal charter enacted still by the GDR and on the municipal charters and communal territorial and ad ministrative reforms passed by the new Lander. The analysis is put in a conceptual framework in the institution building is seen as shaped, on the one hand, by ''structural'' factors following from the East Ger many's ''integration'' into the Federal Republic (''exogenous path dep endency''), on the one hand, and by the pertinent East German politica l arenas, their power constellations and the interests and influence ( ''will and skill'') of the important political actors, one the other. The main conclusions of the paper are that, through the,,integration l ogic'', basic organisational schemes and criteria of the ''old'' FRG h ave formally or practically acted as ''structural givens'' for institu tion building in East Germany (for instance, as to ''whether'' large-s cale territorial and administrative reforms should be tackled right aw ay). Yet, within these,,givens'' and their wide scope, East Germany's institution building process has been largely shaped by the political interests, institutional concepts and influences (''will, skill and cr afting'') of the pertinent political actors at the Land and local leve ls as well as by specific East German conditions (''endogenous path de pendency'').