This article examines the proposition that there is a trade-off between imitation and innovation when state elites try to “borrow” institutional designs from other polities. After synthesizing theoretical propositions both for and against a trade-off, the article develops evidence from case studies of two periods in which such institutional borrowing was widely practiced: the post-World War II American occupation of Germany and German reunification after 1989. It concludes that imitation sparked innovation in both periods, although for two very different reasons. The article emphasizes the relation of the research findings to theories of institutional creation and change.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Agartz, Viktor . (1971). Gewerkschaft und Arbeiterklasse [Unions and the working class]. Munich: Trikont Verlag.
2.
Behrens, Martin . (1995). Die Gewerkschaften in den neuen Bundesländern am Beispiel der IG Metall [Trade unions in the new federal states: The example of IG Metall]. Düsseldorf: Hans Böckler Stiftung.
3.
Beissinger, Mark . (1988). Scientific management, socialist discipline, and Soviet power. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
4.
Berger, Ulrike . (1995). Engagement und Interessen der Wirtschaftsverbände in der Transformation der ostdeutschen Wirtschaft: Industrieverbände im Spannungsfeld von Mitglieder-interessen und Gemeinwohl [Engagement and interests of business associations in the transformation of East German industry: Industrial associations caught between member interests and the collective good]. In Helmut Wiesenthal (Ed.), Einheit als Interessenpolitik [Unification as the politics of interests] (pp. 95-125). Frankfurt: Campus-Verlag.
5.
Bluhm, Katharina . (1995). Regionale Unterstützungsnetzwerke in der ostdeutschen Industrie: Der Interessenverband Chemnitzer Maschinenbau [Regional policy networks in East German industry: The Interessenverband Chemnitzer Maschinenbau]. In Helmut Wiesenthal (Ed.), Einheit als Interessenpolitik (pp. 160-193). Frankfurt: Campus-Verlag.
6.
Bönker, Frank . (1994). External determinants of the patterns and outcomes of East European transitions. Emergo, 1, 34-54.
7.
Bramalls, E. A. (1978). Letter to H. Tracey, 15 September, 1945. Reprinted in the Appendix to Rolf Steininger, England und die deutsche Gewerkschaftsbewegung, 1945-46, in Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, 18, 98.
8.
Carothers, Thomas . (1996). Assessing democratic assistance: The case of Romania. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment.
9.
Cole, Robert . (1989). Strategies for learning: Small-group activities in American, Japanese, and Swedish industry. Berkeley: University of California Press.
10.
Crawford, Beverly , & Lijphart, Arend. (1995). Explaining political and economic change in post-communist Eastern Europe: Old legacies, new institutions, hegemonic norms, and international pressures. Comparative Political Studies, 28, 171-199.
11.
Dartmann, Christoph . (1996). Re-distribution of power, joint consultation or productivity coalitions? Labour and postwar reconstruction in Germany and Britain, 1945-1953. Bochum, Germany: N. Brockmeyer.
12.
Davidson, Basil . (1994). The Black man's burden: The curse of the nation-state. New York: Times Books.
13.
Deeg, Richard . (1995). Institutional transfer, social learning and economic policy in Eastern Germany. West European Politics, 18(4), 38-63.
14.
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung . (1994). Gesamtwirtschaftliche und unternehmerische Anpassungsfortschritte in Ostdeutschland [Economic and firm-based adjustments in Eastern Germany]. DIW Wochenbericht, 15.
15.
Dietrich, George Phillip . (1949) The trade union role in the reconstruction of Germany (Visiting Expert Series #60). Frankfurt: OMGUS Manpower Division.
16.
Ettl, Wilfried , & Heikenroth, André. (1996). Strukturwandel, Verbandsabstinenz, Tarifflucht [Structural change, avoidance of associations, and the retreat from patterned bargaining]. Industrielle Beziehungen, 3, 134-153.
17.
Evan, William . (1966). The organization-set: Toward a theory of interorganizational relations. In James Thompson (Ed.), Organizational design and research (pp. 173-191). Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
18.
Fichter, Michael . (1982). Besatzungsmacht und Gewerkschaften: Zur Entwicklung und Anwendung der US-Gewerkschaftspolitik in Deutschland, 1944-48 [Occupation forces and unions: The development and application of U.S. policy toward unions in Germany, 1944-48]. Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.
19.
Fichter, Michael . (1993). A house divided. German Politics and Society, 2, 21-39.
20.
Fichter, Michael . (1997). Trade union members: A vanishing species in post-unification Germany?German Studies Review, 20, 1.
21.
Frege, Carola . (1999). Transferring labor institutions to emerging economies: The case of East Germany. Industrial Relations, 38, 459-481.
22.
Goetz, Klaus , & Margetts, Helen. (1999). The solitary center: The core executive in Central and Eastern Europe. Governance, 12, 425-453.
23.
Grabbe, Heather . (1998). A partnership for accession? The nature, scope and implications of emerging conditionality for CEE applicants (EUI Working Paper). Fiesole, Italy: European University Institute.
24.
Hamilton, William . (Ed.). (1964). The transfer of institutions. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
25.
Henderson, Jeffrey . (Ed.). (1998). Industrial transformation in Eastern Europe in the light of the East Asian experience. New York: St. Martin's.
26.
IG Metall . (1993) Wir verteidigen unseren Tarifvertrag [We're protecting our collective agreement] [Strike documentation]. Frankfurt: Author.
27.
IG Metall . (1995). Bayernstreik `95' [Strike in Bavaria, 1995] [Strike documentation]. Frankfurt: Author.
28.
Jacoby, Wade . (1999). Priest and penitent: The EU as a force in the domestic politics of Eastern Europe. East European Constitutional Review, 8(1-2), 62-67.
29.
Jacoby, Wade . (2000). Imitation and politics: Redesigning modern Germany. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
30.
Kädtler, Jürgen , & Kottwitz, Giesela. (1993). Wie kommt der Interessengegensatz in den Betrieb zurück? Entwicklungsprobleme der betrieblichen Arbeitnehmervertretung in Ostdeutschland [Reestablishing the balance of power in the firm? Developmental problems of worker representation in Eastern Germany]. Sozialist, 1, 19-25.
31.
Muniak, Dennis . (1985). Policies that don't fit: Words of caution on adopting overseas solutions to American problems. Policy Studies Journal, 14, 1-19.
32.
Offe, Claus . (1997). Varieties of transition: The East European and East German experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
33.
Peukert, Detlev . (1987). Die Weimarer Republik: Krisenjahre der klassischen Moderne [The Weimar Republic: The crisis of modernity]. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
34.
Phillips, David . (1992). Borrowing educational policy. Oxford Studies in Comparative Education, 2(2), 45-51.
35.
Pickel, Andreas , & Wiesenthal, Helmut. (1997). The grand experiment: Debating shock therapy, transition theory, and the East German experience. Boulder, CO: Westview.
36.
Preusche, Evelyn . (1993). Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe [Helping people help themselves]. WISOC Informationsblatt, 21, 15-21.
37.
Ritter, Gerhard . (1984-1999). Geschichte der Arbeiter und der Arbeiterbewegung in Deutschland seit dem Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts [History of workers and the worker movement in Germany since the end of the 18th century] (Vols. 1-12). Bonn: J.H.W. Dietz Verlag.
38.
Robertson, David , & Waltman, Jerome. (1992). The politics of policy borrowing. Oxford Studies in Comparative Education, 2(2), 25-49.
39.
Robischon, Tobias , Stucke, Andreas, Wasem, Jürgen, & Wolf, Hans-Georg. (1995). Die politische Logik der deutschen Vereinigung und der Institutionentransfer [The logic of German unification and institutional transfer]. Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 36, 423-459.
40.
Rogers, Dan . (1995). Politics after Hitler: The western allies and the German party system. New York: Macmillan.
41.
Rutherford, Malcolm . (1996). Institutions in economics: The old and the new institutionalism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
42.
Sajo, Andras . (1997). Universal rights, missionaries, converts, and “local savages.”East European Constitutional Review, 6, 44-49.
43.
Samuels, Richard . (1994). Rich nation, strong army. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
44.
Savage, Robert . (1985). Diffusion research traditions and the spread of policy innovation in a federal system. Publius, 15(4), 1-28.
45.
Schauer, Helmut . (1993, May 3). Was ist das noch für ein Tarifvertrag, den Sie uns bieten? [How can you call that a collective bargain?]. Frankfurter Rundschau, 13.
46.
Schroeder, Wolfgang . (2000). Das Modell Deutschland auf dem Prüfstand: Zur Entwicklung der industriellen Beziehungen in Ostdeutschland, 1990-2000. [The German model under the spotlight: Industrial relations in Eastern Germany]. Wiesbaden, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.
47.
Seifert, Christfried . (1981). Die deutsche Gewerkschaftsbewegung in der Weimarer Republik [The German trade union movement in the Weimar Republic]. In Frank Deppe, Georg Fülberth, & Jürgen Harrer (Eds.), Geschichte der deutschen Gewerkschaftsbewegung [History of the German trade union movement] (3rd ed., pp. 146-210). Düsseldorf: Pahl-Rugenstein.
48.
Silvia, Steven . (1997). German unification and emerging divisions within German employers' associations: Cause or catalyst?Comparative Politics, 29, 187-208.
49.
Stark, David , & Bruszt, László. (1998). Postsocialist pathways: Transforming politics and property in East Central Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press.
50.
Steininger, Rolf . (1978). England und die deutsche Gewerkschaftsbewegung, 1945-46 [England and the German union movement, 1945-46]. Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, 18, 41-118.
51.
Thelen, Kathleen . (1992). Union of parts: Labor politics in postwar Germany. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
52.
Turner, Lowell . (1998). Fighting for partnership: Labor and politics in unified Germany. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
53.
Walker, Jack . (1969). The diffusion of innovations among the American states. American Political Science Review, 63(3), 880-899.
54.
Wedel, Janine . (1998). Collision and collusion: The strange case of western aid to Eastern Europe. New York: St. Martin's.
55.
Westney, Eleanor . (1987). Imitation and innovation: The transfer of western organizational patterns to Meiji Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
56.
Widder, Thomas . (1993, Nov. 6). Für “Frischen Wind” [For “fresh air”]. Chemnitzer Freie Presse, 1.
57.
Winkler, Heinrich . (1988). Der Schein der Normalitat [The appearance of normality] (2nd ed.). Bonn: J.H.W. Dietz Verlag.
58.
Wolman, Harold . (1992) Understanding cross national policy transfers: The case of Britain and the U.S.Governance, 5, 27-45.
