Opting for Oil: The Political Economy of Technological Change in the West German Industry, 1945–1961

by Raymond G. Stokes

• ISBN13: 9780521025768
• ISBN10: 0521025761
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-04-20
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book investigates the causes, course and consequences of the shift in West German chemical technology from a coal to a petroleum basis between 1945 and 1961. It examines the historical underpinnings of the technological culture of the German chemical industry; changing political and economic constraints on technological decision-making in the post-war period; and the actual decision-making process within five individual firms. By addressing a wide variety of broader issues - including the origins and impact of the division of Germany; the effects of the Wirtschaftswunder, or economic miracle; European integration; and the changing role of the West German Federal Republic in the international political order - this book explains how West German industry regained and then retained a competitive position in world markets.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I. Background: 1. Politics and technological excellence: organic chemicals, 1860-1945: 2. Western German chemicals in flux, 1945-1955

Part II. Bargaining from Strength: The Political Economy Of Technological Change, 1945-1955: 3. A new agenda, 1949-1955: Cold War, changing energy patterns and the development of West German chemical technology

4. Rejoining the international community: international cooperation and technology transfer, 1951-1955

Part III. Alternative Paths to Plenty: Case Studies from the mid-1950s: 5. Fifty-fifty with the petroleum multinationals: BASF, Shell, and Rheinische Olefinwerke

6. Fifty-fifty with the petroleum multinationals: Bayer, British Petroleum, and Erdö

lchemie

7. Going it alone: Hoechst

8. State's interest and technological change: Hü

ls and cold-rubber technology

9. End game strategies: the German coal industry and the Fischer-Tropsch process

Part IV. Consolidating the New Regime, 1957-1961: 10. Petrochemicals triumphant, 1957-1961

11. Conclusion

Index.