Bonn's Ostpolitik at the Crossroads?

Abstract

In September 1982 the Social and Free Democratic coalition1 collapsed after thirteen years' rule; the conservative Union parties coalesced with the Free Democrats to return to power in Bonn. Two months later Brezhnev died in Moscow amidst an ongoing new Cold War with the Reagan Administration. His successor, as the Chief of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), turned out to be the former KGB chief, Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov. With time running out for NATO's deployment of new missiles in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and other West European states, and a significant conservative victory in the United Kingdom elections in June 1983, elements of uncertainty in the crucial relations between Bonn and Moscow may have increased. Between 1969 and 1982 the (SPD) had managed to reverse the (CDU's) twenty years of hardline approach to the Soviet bloc. Despite irritations, Bonn under SPD-led governments managed to keep its ostpolitik on an even keel. Central European detente seemed to have survived the collapse of the larger, superpower rapprochement. The critical question in mid-1983, following the conservative election victories in Bonn and London and against the background of significant US-USSR rivalry, is whether the latter rivalry would also suck into its vortex relative peace in Central Europe. Should that happen, the Cold War would return to Europe, reinforce the anomalies emanating from a divided Germany as well as the superpower adversary relationship in turn. In this context the present article will, first, take a retrospective look at ostpolitik, its causes and achievements, then explore Bonn's relations with Moscow as they evolved while the SPD was in power and, finally analyze the implications of the leadership changes in Bonn and Moscow for the future of ostpolitik.