Abstract

Despite the consensus that economic diplomacy played a crucial role in ending the Cold War, very little research has been done on the economic diplomacy during the crucial decades of the 1970s and 1980s. This book fills the gap by exploring the complex interweaving of East–West political and economic diplomacies in the pursuit of détente. The focus on German chancellor Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik reveals how its success was rooted in the usage of energy trade and high tech exchanges with the Soviet Union. His policies and visions are contrasted with those of U.S. President Richard Nixon and the Realpolitik of Henry Kissinger. The ultimate failure to coordinate these rivaling détente policies, and the resulting divide on how to deal with the Soviet Union, left NATO with an energy dilemma between American and European partners—one that has resurfaced in the 21st century with Russia’s politicization of energy trade. This book is essential for anyone interested in exploring the interface of international diplomacy, economic interest, and alliance cohesion.

Werner D. Lippert is an Assistant Professor of History and a Fellow at the John P Murtha Institute for Homeland Security at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. His research interests include Cold War diplomacy, alliance politics, and East–West trade. He is currently working on NATO policies and international energy security in the 21st century with a particular emphasis on political dependencies caused by natural gas imports and exports.

“In both narrative and interpretation Lippert offers a persuasive story… it is a solid contribution to our understanding of a crucial part of Cold War history.”  ·  Journal of Cold War Studies

“Economic relations between Western countries and the Soviet Union during the 1970s are hardly researched. Werner Lippert has to be credited for tackling this deficit and writing a well researched and readable book that challenges conventional wisdoms and raises provocative points. Whereas East–West trade and economics have so far been at the  far margins of most historiography of Ostpolitik, Lippert places it front and centre.”  ·  European History Quarterly

“The book addresses an important subject (‘détente’) and one in which there is considerable interest…It balances well politics, economics, and the personalities/mindsets of the principal figures (Brandt, Nixon, and Kissinger).”  ·  Robert Mark Spaulding, University of North Carolina