Statecraft Essay: Willy Brandt and Ostpolitik
Abstract
West German Chancellor Willie Brandt was a leader of vision and perseverance whose skills at statecraft engaged -- and began to alter -- the fundamental power alignments in postwar Central Europe. His policy of Ostpolitik, the Federal Republic of Germany's (FRG) opening to the East, had its origins in the deep recesses of German history and psyche. Ostpolitik's immediate objective was to ameliorate the hardships caused by the division of Germany and Berlin; Ostpolitik's long term goal was to carve out maneuver room for FRG diplomacy in Central Europe. Brandt's approach to statecraft was formed in the wake of the Berlin Wall crisis and evolved through a process of trial and error in his various incarnations as mayor of West Berlin, Foreign Minister, and Chancellor. Success eluded Brandt until he properly understood the fundamental interest/power relationships among the key state actors and based his diplomatic initiatives on a firm foundation in the Western Alliance. Brandt realized his immediate objective only after Ostpolitik was married to Kissinger's more subtle, expansive, and powerful detente statecraft. Ostpolitik's limited initial objective was achieved by balancing asymmetrical power and interests, and by creating complex linkages among key states' competing objectives. Brandt's lasting legacy was to propel FRG statecraft onto center stage in the European power balance and begin the long, continuing process of reconciliation, renewal, and peaceful change in Central Europe.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 08, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA436953
Entities
People
- Eric A. Kunsman
Organizations
- National War College