Publisher Description

Germany Divided is the first comprehensive scholarly interpretation of the forty-year relationship between East and West Germany and of the problems of contemporary German unity. When the Berlin Wall was opened on November 9, 1989, there was widespread surprise at the rush to unification: Germany was reuniting just when almost everyone, political participant and observer alike, had become accustomed to it being divided. 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.In addition to relevant primary and secondary materials, including archival holdings in both German states, McAdams draws on an unprecedented series of interviews conducted throughout the 1980s and early 1990s with officials of the Federal Chancellery, the Foreign Office, and the Ministry of Intra-German Relations of the Federal Republic in Bonn, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the SED Central Committee of the German Democratic Republic in East Berlin. With this unique access to information on high-level decision making, he chronicles an era when the restoration of German unity appeared anything but assured.

Notes

There are very few scholars in the German field who move as comfortably between the different worlds of Bonn and East Berlin as does A. James McAdams. -- Norman Naimark, Stanford University

Back Cover

"There are very few scholars in the German field who move as comfortably between the different worlds of Bonn and East Berlin as does A. James McAdams." --Norman Naimark, Stanford University

Flap

"There are very few scholars in the German field who move as comfortably between the different worlds of Bonn and East Berlin as does A. James McAdams."-- Norman Naimark, Stanford University

Author Biography

A. James McAdams is a Departmental Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and Associate Professor of Government and International Relations at the University of Notre Dame.

Table of Contents

PrefaceAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIA Wall between the Germanys3Accepting Germany's Division5A German-German Consensus13IIOne Germany, Two Alliances16The Soviet Ultimatum17East German Uncertainties23The Persistence of West German Policy30The Evolution of East German Policy36Divergent Priorities44The Construction of the Wall49IIITwo Germanys: Confrontation or Accommodation?56Changing Surroundings57West Germany's Awkward Adaptation64The Rigidity of East German Policy71Bonn's Breakthrough: The Ostpolitik79The End of the Ulbricht Era87Two States in Germany?93IVTwo German States: New Relations, Bad Relations96The Inter-German Dilemma97The Benefits of Cooperation102Handling Questions of Principle106Whither Inter-German Ties: The View from Bonn113Whither Inter-German Ties: Retrenchment in the GDR121Toward a German-German Deadlock?126Inter-German Ties in Question133VAccepting a Divided Germany134A Threat from the West135An East German Opportunity?141The Meeting at Werbellin147The "Wende"152A German "Coalition of Reason"158A New Era between the Germanys164A Working Visit to Bonn173VIThe Fall of East Germany175The Illusion of Success177A Path of Least Resistance185A New Political Force193The West German Response199Unity Despite the Germanys204VIIGermany without a Wall207Inter-German Tensions of a New Type209A Liberal Democratic Germany216The New Germany and the New Europe222App. A. Interview Locations, 1985-1990229App. B. GDR Oral History Project Interviews231Select Bibliography233Index245

Review

"A masterly and elegantly written account of the interweaving of domestic politics and inter-German relations."--International Affairs "... a notable analysis of the two Germanys and how they became one."--Publishers Weekly "... comprehensive coverage and first-rate analysis of the intricate East-West German relationship in the 1970's and 80's..."--Choice "A. James McAdams' excellent book is above all the story of the two Germanies' forty-year history with each other... Using a plethora of interviews and other primary sources, McAdams presents a story unavailable elsewhere."--The Historian "Well documented and consistently rigorous, McAdams' study points out the immense challenges that remain before a liberal democratic Germany can be created."--Orbis "An outstanding analysis of the changing relations between East and West Germany."--Osteuropa

Promotional

There are very few scholars in the German field who move as comfortably between the different worlds of Bonn and East Berlin as does A. James McAdams. -- Norman Naimark, Stanford University

Long Description

Germany Divided is the first comprehensive scholarly interpretation of the forty-year relationship between East and West Germany and of the problems of contemporary German unity. When the Berlin Wall was opened on November 9, 1989, there was widespread surprise at the rush to unification: Germany was reuniting just when almost everyone, political participant and observer alike, had become accustomed to it being divided. 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.In addition to relevant primary and secondary materials, including archival holdings in both German states, McAdams draws on an unprecedented series of interviews conducted throughout the 1980s and early 1990s with officials of the Federal Chancellery, the Foreign Office, and the Ministry of Intra-German Relations of the Federal Republic in Bonn, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the SED Central Committee of the German Democratic Republic in East Berlin. With this unique access to information on high-level decision making, he chronicles an era when the restoration of German unity appeared anything but assured.

Review Quote

Well documented and consistently rigorous, McAdams' study points out the immense challenges that remain before a liberal democratic Germany can be created. -- Orbis

Details