ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the various modes of transition experienced by these new EU member states, but focuses especially on the case of East Germany. The contrasting course, exemplified by Spain in the late 1970s, is driven primarily by lites associated with the old dictatorship who accede to democratic transition because they believe it will provide them with a new formula for legitimating their rule. Yet there are aspects of East Germany's democratization process, notably the mechanisms by which the old regime relinquished power and acquiesced to democratic reform, that have proved amenable to comparative approaches. As national autarky and the Soviet-bloc cohesion began to give way to an orientation to external markets, ideas of a socialist market economy and political pluralism gained ground throughout the region. Soviet-bloc firms sought to import as much as possible from within the area, and maximize exports to hard' markets.
