Germany Divided remains one of the most thought-provoking and comprehensive interpretations of the forty-year relationship between East and West Germany and of the problems of contemporary German unity. In this politically controversial and analytically sophisticated account, A. James McAdams dissects the complex process by which East and West German leaders moved over the years from first pursuing the ideal of German unity, to accepting what they believed to be the inescapable reality of division, and then, finally, to meeting the challenges of an unanticipated reunification. This new edition contains an epilogue in which McAdams considers some of the political and economic problems faced by eastern and western Germans as they entered their fourth year of living together.
Author(s): A. James McAdams
Series: Princeton Studies in International History and Politics
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Year: 1994
Language: English
Pages: 304
City: Princeton
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
I A Wall between the Germanys
Accepting Germany's Division
A German-German Consensus
II One Germany, Two Alliances
The Soviet Ultimatum
East German Uncertainties
The Persistence of West German Policy
The Evolution of East German Policy
Divergent Priorities
The Construction of the Wall
Ill Two Germanys: Confrontation or Accommodation?
Changing Surroundings
West Germany's Awkward Adaptation
The Rigidity of East German Policy
Bonn's Breakthrough: The Ostpolitik
The End of the Ulbricht Era
Two States in Germany?
IV Two German States: New Relations, Bad Relations
The Inter-German Dilemma
The Benefits of Cooperation
Handling Questions of Principle
Whither Inter-German Ties: The View from Bonn
Toward a German-German Deadlock?
Inter-German Ties in Question
V Accepting a Divided Germany
A Threat from the West
An East German Opportunity?
The Meeting at Werbellin
The "Wende"
A German "Coalition of Reason"
A New Era between the Germanys
A Working Visit to Bonn
VI The Fall of East Germany
The Illusion of Success
A Path of Least Resistance
A New Political Force
The West German Response
Unity Despite the Germanys
VII Germany without a Wall
Inter-German Tensions of a New Type
A Liberal Democratic Germany
The New Germany and the New Europe
Epilogue
Alternative German Futures
Politics in Hindsight
Appendix A Interview Locations, 1985-1990
Appendix B GDR Oral History Project Interviews
Select Bibliography
Index
