Author: Charles William Carter Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
Abstract: Although the 1970s was the era of U.S.-Soviet détente, the decade also saw West Germany implement its own form of détente: Ostpolitik. Trade with the Soviet Union (Osthandel) was a major feature of Ostpolitik. Osthandel, whose main feature was the development of the Soviet energy-export infrastructure, was part of a broader West German effort aimed at promoting intimate interaction with the Soviets in order to reduce tension and resolve outstanding Cold War issues. Thanks to Osthandel, West Germany became the USSR's most important capitalist trading partner, and several oil and natural gas pipelines came into existence because of the work of such firms as Mannesmann and Thyssen. At the same time, Moscow's growing emphasis on developing energy for exports was not a prudent move. A lack of economic diversification resulted, a development that helped devastate the USSR's economy after the oil price collapse of 1986 and, in the process, destabilize the communist bloc. Against this backdrop, the goals of some West German Ostpolitik advocates---especially German reunification and a peaceful resolution to the Cold War---occurred.
Author: Robert Mark Spaulding Publisher: Berghahn Books ISBN: 1800734948 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 515
Book Description
Eclipsed by the scope of the Atlantic economy, obscured by Anglo-German rivalry, and nearly destroyed by the post-1945 division of Europe, the flow of goods across East Central Europe has been, nonetheless, an immensely significant pattern of European economic exchange. For Germany, the Osthandel (Eastern trade) was both a blessing and a curse; its bounty provided much of the raw material for the rise of German economic and political power in Europe, while its lure tantalized German ambitions to the point of madness. Despite the enduring importance of this commerce, no monograph has yet made this pattern of trade the centerpiece of its treatment of German-East European relations. This study puts this important pattern of German-East European trade into the center of discussion and views an extended period of German foreign policy toward Eastern Europe through this lens.
Author: Werner D. Lippert Publisher: Berghahn Books ISBN: 1845455746 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 257
Book Description
Despite the consensus that economic diplomacy played a crucial role in ending the Cold War, very little research has been done on the economic diplomacy during the crucial decades of the 1970s and 1980s. This book fills the gap by exploring the complex interweaving of East–West political and economic diplomacies in the pursuit of détente. The focus on German chancellor Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik reveals how its success was rooted in the usage of energy trade and high tech exchanges with the Soviet Union. His policies and visions are contrasted with those of U.S. President Richard Nixon and the Realpolitik of Henry Kissinger. The ultimate failure to coordinate these rivaling détente policies, and the resulting divide on how to deal with the Soviet Union, left NATO with an energy dilemma between American and European partners—one that has resurfaced in the 21st century with Russia’s politicization of energy trade. This book is essential for anyone interested in exploring the interface of international diplomacy, economic interest, and alliance cohesion.
Author: Stephen G. Gross Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0197667732 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 417
Book Description
A novel exploration of the deeper political, economic, and geopolitical history behind Germany's daring campaign to restructure its energy system around green power. Since the 1990s, Germany has embarked on a daring campaign to restructure its energy system around renewable power, sparking a global revolution in solar and wind technology. But this pioneering energy transition has been plagued with problems. In Energy and Power, Stephen G. Gross explains the deeper origins of the Energiewende--Germany's transition to green energy--and offers the first comprehensive history of German energy and climate policy from World War II to the present. The book follows the Federal Republic as it passed through five energy transitions from the dramatic shift to oil that nearly wiped out the nation's hard coal sector, to the oil shocks and the rise of the Green movement in the 1970s and 1980s, the co-creation of a natural gas infrastructure with Russia, and the transition to renewable power today. He shows how debates over energy profoundly shaped the course of German history and influenced the landmark developments that define modern Europe. As Gross argues, the intense and early politicization of energy led the Federal Republic to diverge from the United States and rethink its fossil economy well before global warming became a public issue, building a green energy system in the name of many social goals. Yet Germany's experience also illustrates the difficulty, the political battles, and the unintended consequences that surround energy transitions. By combining economy theory with a study of interest groups, ideas, and political mobilization, Energy and Power offers a novel explanation for why energy transitions happen. Further, it provides a powerful lens to move beyond conventional debates on Germany's East-West divide, or its postwar engagement with the Holocaust, to explore how this nation has shaped the contemporary world in other important ways.
Author: Carole Fink Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1107075459 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 371
Book Description
A new history of the West German-Israeli relationship as these two countries faced terrorism, war, and economic upheaval in a global Cold War environment.
Author: Frédéric Bozo Publisher: Berghahn Books ISBN: 0857452886 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 367
Book Description
Exploring the visions of the end of the Cold War that have been put forth since its inception until its actual ending, this volume brings to the fore the reflections, programmes, and strategies that were intended to call into question the bipolar system and replace it with alternative approaches or concepts. These visions were associated not only with prominent individuals, organized groups and civil societies, but were also connected to specific historical processes or events. They ranged from actual, thoroughly conceived programmes, to more blurred, utopian aspirations -- or simply the belief that the Cold War had already, in effect, come to an end. Such visions reveal much about the contexts in which they were developed and shed light on crucial moments and phases of the Cold War.
Author: Volker Berghahn Publisher: Berghahn Books ISBN: 9781571819314 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 244
Book Description
German unification evoked ambivalent reactions outside its borders: it revived disquietingmemories of attempts by German big business during the two world wars to build an economic empire in Europe in conjunction with the military and the government bureaucracy. But thereare also high hopes that German finance and industry will serve as the engine of reconstruction in eastern Europe, just as it played this role in the postwar unification of western Europe.
Author: Volker Rolf Berghahn Publisher: Campus Verlag ISBN: 9781571810274 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 248
Book Description
German unification evoked ambivalent reactions outside its borders: it revived disquietingmemories of attempts by German big business during the two world wars to build an economic empire in Europe in conjunction with the military and the government bureaucracy. But thereare also high hopes that German finance and industry will serve as the engine of reconstruction in eastern Europe, just as it played this role in the postwar unification of western Europe.
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Subcommittee on International Finance Publisher: ISBN: Category : Technology and state Languages : en Pages : 664
Author: Peter H. Merkl Publisher: NYU Press ISBN: 0814754465 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 517
Book Description
The last five years have brought such extraordinary changes to Germany and Europe as to make the previous forty years of Cold War existence seem deceptively placid and well- ordered by comparison. The collapse of communist rule in East Germany in the midst of massive demonstrations against the Honecker regime in late 1989 were only the beginning. The monumental changes that have taken place since have affected all aspects of German identity, both inside and outside of the now-unified nation. This book tackles the question of just where the new Federal Republic of Germany stands after 45 years and where it appears to be headed. The central concern of this volume is the nation's evolving united--or disunited--sense of identity. This identity, in a constant state of flux, takes many forms: the striking differences between East and West German views; German pacifism and national pride; the role of Germany in the world; the reemergence of radical right groups; and opinions towards foreigners and the right of political asylum. Of central interest to scholars of German and European history and politics, this book is a thorough assessment of Germany in the post-wall era.
Author: Charles William Carter
Author: Robert Mark Spaulding
Author: Werner D. Lippert
Author: Stephen G. Gross
Author: Carole Fink
Author: Frédéric Bozo
Author: Volker Berghahn
Author: Volker Rolf Berghahn
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Subcommittee on International Finance
Author: Peter H. Merkl