Trading Power traces the successes and failures of a generation of German political leaders as the Bonn Republic emerged as a substantial force in European, Atlantic, and world affairs. Over the course of the 1960s and 1970s, West Germans relinquished many trappings of hard power, most notably nuclear weapons, and learned to leverage their economic power instead. Obsessed with stability and growth, Bonn governments battled inflation in ways that enhanced the international position of the Deutsche Mark while upending the international monetary system. Germany's remarkable export achievements exerted a strong hold on the Soviet bloc, forming the basis for a new Ostpolitik under Willy Brandt. Through much trial and error, the Federal Republic learned how to find a balance among key Western allies, and in the mid-1970s Helmut Schmidt ensured Germany's centrality to institutions such as the European Council and the G-7 - the newly emergent leadership structures of the West.
Trading Power traces the successes and failures of a generation of German political leaders as the Bonn Republic emerged as a substantial force in European, Atlantic, and world affairs. Over the course of the 1960s and 1970s, West Germans relinquished many trappings of hard power, most notably nuclear weapons, and learned to leverage their economic power instead. Obsessed with stability and growth, Bonn governments battled inflation in ways that enhanced the international position of the Deutsche Mark while upending the international monetary system. Germany's remarkable export achievements exerted a strong hold on the Soviet bloc, forming the basis for a new Ostpolitik under Willy Brandt. Through much trial and error, the Federal Republic learned how to find a balance among key Western allies, and in the mid-1970s Helmut Schmidt ensured Germany's centrality to institutions such as the European Council and the G-7 - the newly emergent leadership structures of the West.
Über den Autor
William Glenn Gray is Associate Professor of History at Purdue University. He is the author of Germany's Cold War: The Global Campaign to Isolate East Germany, 1949-1969 (2003). In 2015, he was awarded the DAAD Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in German and European Studies.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction; 1. The unraveling of Adenauer's grand strategy (1962-1963); 2. America's junior partner (1963-1964); 3. Twenty years after (1964-1965); 4. The stability imperative (1965-1966); 5. Gaullist temptations (1966-1968); 6. The magnetism of prosperity (1967-1968); 7. A decisive election (1969); 8. The zenith of Ostpolitik (1970); 9. The European pendulum (1970-1972); 10. Hazards from the Global South (1970-1972); 11. The embattled chancellor (1971-1972); 12. The center of Europe (1973); 13. The crisis management team (1973-1974); 14. New structures for the West (1974-75); Conclusion; Select bibliography; Index.
