GERMAN POLITICS AND ALLIANCE UNITY

Abstract

Abstract : Since last March's election and the consequent formation of a new West German government, a clearer understanding of the effects of these developments upon INF deployment and long-term unity may be made. As noted by Jeffrey Boutwell in International Security, the debate over this issue has been particularly strident in West Germany for several reasons. First, its geographic position in central Europe forces it to reconcile its security relationship with the West with a desire for Ostpolitik. Second, the speech by Helmut Schimidt at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in 1977 is seen as providing much of the rationale for the NATO decision in the first place, a fact which placed the German government in a politically vulnerable position. Third, the Bonn government finds itself now being pressured by domestic forces, the United States, and the Soviet Union over how to untangle the INF dilemma. Finally, it can be said that the current INF negotiation between the United States and the Soviet Union is in reality a battle for the hearts and minds of the citizens of the Federal Republic.