Circulation of elites and confidence in institutions

Various waves of elite circulation during the last year of the GDR are distinguished and career continuation of the transition elites in unified Germany is investigated. Both, in the parliamentary and the executive elite, an almost total circulation can be observed with marked differences between delegation elites (new eastern politicians and interest group leaders on the regional level) and appointment elites in the executive and the judiciary branches of government where elite import from the western part of the country prevailed. Dissolution of central institutions of the GDR, a systematic purge, and this elite import are characteristics of the special German transition path. Secondly, the development of trust in institutions, slightly lower though in the East, is explained by the high degree of elite circulation. Furthermore, pronounced trust in legislative and executive institutions might have to do with recruiting the respective elites from the western part of the country, for they represent the new institutions and keep them under control even when carrying on with "old" rank and file members.