Transformation as transnational process: German-Czech economic relations after 1989

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article deals with German-Czech economic relations after 1989, focusing on foreign direct investment and joint ventures, the role of the German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce as well as on German consulting assistance in the Czech Republic. It demonstrates that both sides were strongly interested in cooperating with each other, but that there were also problems and ambiguities. Due to its rather “nationalist” privatization strategy, the Czech side was generally critical of foreign interference. Regarding German-Czech economic cooperation, it had to deal with painful memories of National Socialism as well as with restitution claims by (parts of) the expelled German population group. This fuelled the fear of German “colonization”, which could only partly be dispelled by the German side. In fact, German representatives often displayed a certain superiority, but at the same time knew rather little about the Czech Republic. The article concludes that 1989 was not a caesura in every respect, but that historical legacies played an important role during the 1990s. Furthermore, the example of German-Czech economic relations refutes narratives suggesting that the East adapted or assimilated to the West and makes it clear that the post-socialist transformation was a non-linear and conflictual transnational process.