Germany and the Baltic Problem After the Cold War: The Development of a New Ostpolitik, 1989-2000

by Spohr Readman, Kristina

• ISBN13: 9780714655154
• ISBN10: 0714655155
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-08-13
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

A unified Germany at the heart of Europe was the dramatic result of the Cold War's denouement in 1989-91. With it came new expectations about a sovereign Germany, and also a revival of old fears. The root question this book addresses is how will the new Germany use its great-power status? Does Germany, as in the past, aim to dominate Europe? Or has it renounced its imperial ambitions following the trauma of division during the Cold War? In seeking answers, the author scrutinizes the development of Germany's new Ostpolitik (New Eastern Policy) in the period 1989-2000. She analyses the re-establishment of a special relationship between Bonn / Berlin and Moscow. She also assesses the peculiar geopolitical situation of the Baltic states, caught between a turbulent Russia in the East and a unified Germany in the West.

Author Biography

Kristina Spohr Readman is a Junior Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. From September 2004 she will be Lecturer in International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	ix
Preface by Hans-Dietrich Genscher	x
Acknowledgements	xii
Maps	xv
Introduction	1	(4)
1 Germany and the Baltics in the Cold War's Endgame, 1989-91	5	(48)
German Unity through 'Deutsche Marks and Talks'	6	(13)
Baltic Independence Struggle and Soviet Collapse	19	(34)
2 German Questions Past and Present	53	(33)
Concepts and Facets of the German Question	53	(2)
One Germany - on a Sonderweg?	55	(8)
Two Germanies: The End of the German Enigma?	63	(4)
German Unification and the Features of the New German Question	67	(4)
The 'Normality' Debate, or the Past in the Present	71	(15)
3 Unified Germany's West(europa)politik at a 'Time Which as yet Has no Name'	86	(33)
Germany's Changing Military Role: From the Gulf War to Kosovo	86	(13)
Germany, the EU and the Euro: Towards a German Europe or a European Germany?	99	(6)
Germany and EU Enlargement: A Zwang nach Osten?	105	(14)
4 Germany and Russia Reborn: Back to the Future?	119	(37)
The Historical German Question in the Light of German-Russian Relations	119	(5)
The Realisation of Unification, 1992-94: Russian Troop Withdrawal from Former East Germany	124	(8)
Germany, Russia and the Enlargement of NATO, 1993-97: 'Co-operation and Integration' or 'Reinsurance' against Moscow?	132	(10)
Germany's Russia policy, 1997-2000: From Stagnation to New Partnership?	142	(14)
5 The Baltic States: A Gauge of Unified Germany's Ostpolitik and European Security	156	(51)
Why the Baltic States?	157	(5)
Germany's Baltic Policies 1992-94: Supporting 'Sustainable Democracy'	162	(18)
Germany's Baltic Policies in the Context of EU and NATO Enlargement, 1993-2000	180	(27)
Conclusion, or One Answer to the German Question	207	(7)
Postscript: The Methodology of a Contemporary History	214	(21)
Historiography	214	(5)
Primary Sources	219	(16)
Select Bibliography	235	(20)
Index	255