Contrasting US and German Attitudes to Soviet Trade, 1917–91 : Politics by Economic Means

Analyzes the differences in the approach to Soviet trade between the US and Germany since 1917. It provides an historical perpective to the use of Western economic power as an instrument with which to change Soviet policy. The book relates economic policy to political strategy. This book provides an historical perspective to the current debate in the West over the role of economic assistance to the former Soviet Union. The debate is rooted in the important differences in the approach to Soviet trade between the USA and Germany since 1917. The two approaches are illustrated by an analysis of the use of trade as a political instrument. This analysis offers a new perspective on the role of the US-led Western embargo against the Soviet bloc in deepening the division of Germany in 1947-52. It explains why during the 1960s West Germany adopted a conciliatory reappraisal of trade policy towards the Soviet bloc and how this affects the present German approach to economic relations with the former Soviet Union. Helene Seppain shows how, by quite different policies, the USA and Germany can both ultimately claim success in achieving their East-West foreign policy objectives: in the US case, the defeat of the Soviet system; in the German case, Soviet agreement in 1990 to a united Germany within NATO Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction....Pages 1-5 Front Matter....Pages 7-7 Changing Communism by Economic Means and the US Grain Factor, 1921–3....Pages 9-29 German Industry and Buying Peace in 1922....Pages 30-54 Front Matter....Pages 55-58 The Marshall Plan and US Embargo Policy, 1947–53....Pages 59-84 The Berlin Blockade and the Politicisation of Interzonal Trade, 1945–9....Pages 85-102 The Role of the US Embargo in the Division of Germany, 1949–52....Pages 103-130 Front Matter....Pages 131-131 CoCom and US Export Control Policy after 1953....Pages 133-151 Trade as a Bargaining Tool in the Second Berlin Crisis, 1958–61....Pages 152-178 Trade and the New Ostpolitik, 1962–72; The Triangle FRG-GDR-USSR....Pages 179-209 Détente and After: Contrasting US and German Attitudes to Soviet Trade in 1970–91....Pages 210-250 Conclusion and Perspectives....Pages 251-260 Back Matter....Pages 261-349