Description
Book SynopsisIn this authoritative book, the only work to cover the full sweep of German foreign policy since the end of World War II, noted scholar Helga Haftendorn explores Germany''s remarkable recovery from wartime defeat and destruction. Offspring of the Cold War, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic entered the international arena in 1949 under three crippling constraints: they were held accountable for the crimes of the Third Reich, they were fully dependent on the occupation powers, and their international room for maneuver was limited by an East-West conflict that placed Bonn and East Berlin on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. Tracing the FRG''s strategy of multilateralism, Haftendorn convincingly demonstrates how these liabilities transformed into opportunities as Germany found a security guarantee in NATO membership and economic and political rewards in the system of European integration. The author''s overview of past half-century shows a high degree of
Trade ReviewThis title is to be welcomed as the first major overview of postwar German foreign policy in English since Wolfram F. Hanrieder's Germany, America, Europe: Forty Years of German Foreign Policy, which first appeared in 1989. * H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online *
A sober and intelligent overview of German foreign policy in the whole post-World War II period written by one of the most important people in the field. It offers an invaluable historical perspective on Germany's relations today with the rest of the world, especially the United States. -- Marc Trachtenberg, University of California, Los Angeles
Americans will have to take a new look at Germany after the break over the war in Iraq. This book is a good place to start. It is the best single introduction to contemporary German foreign policy in English. Professor Haftendorn knows both her subject and her audience well and conveys a complex history in a clear and accessible style. -- Stephen F. Szabo, Johns Hopkins University
A lucid and balanced analysis of Germany's diplomatic evolution and role in the world, especially in the realm of security and strategic issues. It will be a very useful book in courses on postwar Germany. -- Stanley Hoffmann
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Foreign Policy in the Center of Europe: An Introduction Chapter 2: The Formative Phase of the Federal Republic Chapter 3: Basic Decisions on European Policy Chapter 4: The Federal Republic of Germany in the Atlantic Alliance Chapter 5: The German Democratic Republic as the Second German State Chapter 6: Ostpolitik and Détente: Rapprochement with the East Chapter 7: The Economic Miracle Becomes the Locomotive of the Western Economy Chapter 8: From the NATO Double-Track Decision to the Double-Zero Solution Chapter 9: The Road to Reunification Chapter 10: The European Community and the Path to the European Union Chapter 11: New Challenges after the End of the East-West Conflict Chapter 12: From Self-Restraint to Assertion: Conclusions
