Ostpolitik, 1969–1974
European and Global Responses

This book examines the Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik and its global impact in the years 1969–1974.

Carole Fink (Edited by), Bernd Schaefer (Edited by)

9780521181525, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 17 February 2011

322 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.48 kg

'A fascinating collection of essays accompanies this picture, and the strongest impression they leave is that of Brandt's perspicacity … As a step toward globalizing our understanding of the Ostpolitik, this volume accurately reflects Brandt's times and Brandt's ambition. It is a first-rate contribution to the literature.' The Journal of Central European History

Studies of the Cold War transcend a narrow focus on four decades of superpower rivalry, recognizing that leaders and governments outside of Washington and Moscow also exerted political, economic, and moral influence well beyond their own borders. One striking example was the Ostpolitik of Chancellor Willy Brandt, which not only redefined Germany's relation with its Nazi past but also altered the global environment of the Cold War. This book examines the years 1969–1974, when Brandt broke the Cold War stalemate in Europe by assuming responsibility for the crimes of the Third Reich and by formally renouncing several major West German claims, while also launching an assertive policy toward his Communist neighbors and conducting a deft balancing act between East and West. Not everyone then, or now, applauds the ethos and practice of Ostpolitik, but no one can deny its impact on German, European, and world history.

Part I. Adversaries and Allies: 1. Dealing with Bonn: Leonid Brezhnev and the Soviet response to West German Ostpolitik Andrey Edemskiy
2. Ostpolitik and Poland Krzysztof Ruchniewicz
3. The difficult path to the establishment of relations between Czechoslovakia and West Germany Oldrich Tuma
4. To grin and bear it: the Nixon administration and Ostpolitik Holger Klitzing
5. Chancellor Brandt's Ostpolitik, France, and the Soviet Union Marie-Pierre Rey
Part II. Global Responses: 6. Ostpolitik, 'Fernostpolitik', and Sino-Soviet rivalry: China and the two Germanys Bernd Schaefer
7. West German Ostpolitik and Korean South–North relations Meung-Hoan Noh
8. India and Ostpolitik Amit Das Gupta
9. Ostpolitik and West German–Israeli relations Carole Fink
10. Ostpolitik and the relations between West Germany and South Africa Tilman Dedering
11. 'You have the political prestige and we the material opportunity': Tito and Brandt and Toto between Ostpolitik and non-alignment Milan Kosanovic
12. Abstinence and Ostpolitik: Brandt's government and the nuclear question William Glenn Gray
13. Conclusion Bernd Schaefer and Carole Fink.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], European history [HBJD]