Globalising Ostpolitik

Abstract

Traditional cold war narratives cast Ostpolitik as a policy for dealing with the German question and détente in Europe. Only recently have scholars begun exploring Ostpolitik's broader consequences. This article discusses the transformation of North–South relations prompted by Willy Brandt's foreign policy. On the basis of new evidence from West German archives, I argue that between 1966 and 1972 the Social-democratic leadership, within the broader context of Ostpolitik, took a different approach to North–South relations. I suggest that this change was inspired at first by the United States and by the climate of dissatisfaction with the result of aid, but that it then took special engagement by Willy Brandt to inaugurate the new course in development policy of the Federal Republic. The article also addresses the connection between the awakening of civil society at the end of the 1960s and the content of the Social-democratic reform in development assistance. The article points to the impact of Brandt and his minister Erhard Eppler in transforming aid into a way to regain the consensus of the 1968 rebelling youth.

Acknowledgements

This paper was originally written for presentation at the conference ‘Ostpolitik, 1969-1974: The European and Global Response’, convened by Carole Fink and Bernd Schäfer and held at Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio, 11–13 May 2006. The author would like to thank for their advice Mark F. Gilbert, Niccolò Pianciola, Odd Arne Westad, and Daniel Ziblatt.

Notes

Sara Lorenzini is Assistant Professor at the University of Trento (Italy). She is currently working on the edition of Alcide De Gasperi's Complete Works and writing a history of development aid during the Cold War. Her latest book is L'Italia e il trattato di pace del 1947 (Bologna: Il Mulino 2007).

 [1] Reference here is to the 2006 conference on the global response to Ostpolitik, held at Ohio University – conference report by Corinna Unger in http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id = 1409&fuseaction = topics.item&news_id = 195848. On Willy Brandt's neue Ostpolitik as inter-German policy see Bender, Neue Ostpolitik – for the West German viewpoint – and Sarotte, Dealing with the Devil – for an account based upon sources from both sides. For the discussion on relations between détente and Ostpolitik see Garthoff, Détente and Confrontation, 1171–4. On Ostpolitik in transatlantic relations see Geyer and Schäfer, American Détente. See as well the project Détente and Ostpolitik at the University of Mannheim, headed by Professor Gottfried Niedhardt.

 [2] Quotation from Glenn Gray's Germany's Cold War, 3. Another work which represents this traditional diplomatic history approach very well is Killian's Die Hallstein-Doktrin.

 [3] Schmidt, ‘Pushed to the Front’, 507.

 [4] Many of them are quite close either to Marxist approaches or to the thought of dependency school. This is the case of Tetzlaff, ‘Grundzüge und Hintergründe’ and Schulz, Development Policy. A similar conclusion, although far from sharing the ideological underpinnings, is put forward by the classic and still fundamental White, German Aid.

 [5] State of the Union Message, 5 January 1949, in John Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database), http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid = 13293.

 [6] Westad, Global Cold War, 31; Wood, From Marshall Plan, 55–6.

 [7] The proposal, worked out with the collaboration of P.N. Rosenstein-Rodan and others at the Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was illustrated in Millikan and Rostow, A Proposal; the economic theory is in Rostow, Stages of Economic Growth. For an analysis of the influence of modernisation theory see Latham, Modernisation as Ideology; Gilman, Mandarins of the Future, 155–202; and Pearce, Rostow, 49–73.

 [8] Khrushchev speech is quoted in Walters, American & Soviet Aid, 30.

 [9] See Westad, Global Cold War, for an interpretation in which the struggle for influence in the Third World is central to the cold war narrative.

[10] White, Politics of Foreign Aid; Nielsen, Great Powers.

[11] See for example Gespräch Adenauer-Black, 3 July 1959, PA AA B58 IIIB1 215; Wilhelm Grewe's complaints on the World Bank group annual meeting in November 1960 in Bericht, Botschaft Washington, 3 November 1960, in PA AA B58 IIIB1 324 and the Memorandum dated 17 February 1961 handed in to State Secretary van Scherpenberg by the Undersecretary in State Department George Ball, PA AA B58 IIIB1 115. For an overview see Lorenzini, Germanie in Africa, 82–5.

[12] The quotation is from Niederschrift über die Sitzung des interministeriellen Ausschusses ‘Zusammenarbeit mit unterentwickelten Ländern’, 12 March 1956, while a short history is in Aufzeichnung Dumke, 15 February 1956, both in PA AA B58 Ref. 407, 10. On the debate on the birth of Entwiclukungshilfe see Haase, Lenkung und Selbstbestimmung.

[13] In 1961 West German commitments raised to .59 billion USD (.72% of GDP). The 1961 aid budget remained an exception. In the following years the amount dropped at the usual .45% of GDP; Official OECD/DAC data reported in Memorandum for the Honorable McGeorge Bundy, 9 November 1965, in Kennedy Library, Personal papers of George W. Ball, box 1.

[14] In the very beginning, the disproportion between public direct aid and commitments for export guarantees was astonishing: in 1957 the Federal government was committed to 50 million Marks, while guarantees (the so-called Hermes-Versicherungen) amounted to 9.5 billion Marks. These resources, however, were allocated but never spent, so that, adding private investments, only in 1961 did the total flow of aid almost reach the 1% of GDP. Schmidt, ‘Pushed to the Front’, 480.

[15] Politik gegenüber den Entwicklungsländern, in PA AA B58 IIIB1 115.

[16] AAPD, 1966, Aufzeichnung des MD Ruete, 15 September 1966, Doc 289.

[17] Parteivorstandsitzung, 22 November 1968, quoted in Albert, ‘Sowjetunion-Bild’, 303–4.

[18] Bange, ‘Ostpolitik’. Niedhart, in ‘The Federal Republic's Ostpolitik’, argues that when beginning its initiatives towards the East, the Bonn government followed the general American lead.

[19] Lyndon B. Johnson Statement by the President on the Food for Peace Program, 27 March 1965, in John Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database), http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid = 26840.

[20] Atlantic Affairs Conference. Discussion Guide, 6 May 1965 in National Archives Records Administration (NARA), RG59 General Records of the Department of State, Records relating to the OECD and DAC 1959-1967, Lot File 68D83, box 26.

[21] Record Atlantic Affairs Conference, 17 May 1965; NARA, RG59, Lot File 68D83, box 26.

[22] AAPD, 1966, 12 December 1966, Botschafter Schnippenkötter an MD Ruete, z.Z. Paris, Doc. 394. For the importance of President Johnson in the plan of involving West Germany in détente see also Frank Fischer's introduction to Brandt, Volk der guten Nachbarn, 25.

[23] Schriftbericht-Fernschreiben (verschlüsselt) aus Washington, Nr. 691 vom 23.März 1967, VS, in PA AA, B58 IIIB1 848. Wischnewski finally met up in Washington DC with his homologue Alexander C. Johnpoll – in the meeting he said that German aid was in good shape. He reportedly claimed that he did no longer believe that aid was a short term political instrument, but that it kept having a political value. Meeting Wischnewski with A.C. Johnpoll, 31 October 1967, in NARA, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967-1969, box 440.

[24] Friederich Ebert Stiftung, Protokoll –Forschungsbeirat ‘Ostblock und Entwicklungsländer’, 3 September 1966; in PA AA, B2 153.

[25] Aufzeichnung, Deutsche Haltung zu den Entwicklungshilfeleistungen des Ostens, Bonn, 1 September 1966, Leiter der Abt. III, Hardenberg – in PA AA, B58 IIIB1 848. Answer to telegram from German Embassy in Washington DC, dated 31 May 1966.

[26] Friederich Ebert Stiftung, Protokoll, cit.

[27] Aufzeichnung, Deutsche Haltung., cit., 5.

[28] Report on the Friedrich Ebert Foundation's 1967 Annual Meeting, 24 January 1968, in NARA, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, box 440.

[29] Amembassy Paris (Bohlen), Paris speech of FRG Aid Minister Wischnewski, 15 May 1967, NARA, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, box 440.

[30] Bericht für das Entwicklungsministerium [5 August 1968], in PA AA, B58 IIIB1 848.

[31] Entwicklungshilfe des Ostens, Bonn, 23 September 1968, IIIB1 Schleich, 81.02/0, in PA AA, B58 IIIB1 848.

[32] Zusammenarbeit mit dem BMZ – Gespräch mit Wischnewski, Sts. 77/67, in PA AA, B2 153.

[33] Botschafterkonferenz Abidjan- Ergebnisse [Bonn, 24 April 1968], in PA AA, B58 IIIB1 850.

[34] Amembassy Bonn, 15 August 1969, A-826, in NARA, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, box 440.

[35] Entwurf – Zusammenarbeit mit osteuropäischen Staaten auf dem Gebiet der Entwicklungshilfe, 13 May 1970, in PA AA, B58 IIIB1 848. The report on the conference is also in Amembassy Bonn, 22 July 1969 A-727, NARA, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, box 440.

[36] Deutsche Welle, ‘Ansätze einer Zusammenarbeit. Gemeinsame Entwicklungshilfe von Ost und West’, 7–13 April 1969, in PA AA B58 IIIB1 848.

[37] 156. Lenkungsausschuss, 4 December 1969, in PA AA B58 IIIB1 703.

[38] Teil-Niederschrift über die Staatssekretär-Besprechung vom 10. Dezember 1970, in PA AA, B2 180.

[39] See reports on West German aid from Guinea and Somalia in NARA, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, box 441.

[40] Entwicklungshilfe des Ostens, Bonn, 23 September 1968, IIIB1 Schleich, 81.02/0, in PA AA, B58 IIIB1 848.

[41] Entwurf, Zusammenarbeit mit osteuropäischen Staaten auf dem Gebiet der Entwicklungshilfe, 13 May 1970, in PA AA, B58 IIIB1 848.

[42] Saivetz and Woodby, Soviet-Third World Relations; and Saunders, East-West Trade.

[43] Kiep (CDU-CSU) in Deutscher Bundestag, 6. Wahlperiode, 115. Sitzung. Bonn, Mittwoch den 28. April 1971, 6766.

[44] Amembassy Bonn A-22, 11 January 1972, NARA, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, box 441.

[45] Summary of Bulletin 21 June 1968, attached to Amembassy Bonn to Department of State, Bonn A-1519, 1 July 1968, in NARA, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, box 440, Germany West.

[46] According to the polls of November 1968 of the Institut für Demoskopie, the share of supporters of development aid had dropped from 62% down to 48%; the results were contested by the government. Amembassy Bonn, 10 April 1969, A-348, NARA, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, box 440.

[47] The concept drawn from Fukuyama is used here in the explanation provided by Suri, Power and Protest, 164–6.

[48] See Berger, ‘History of Third Worldism’.

[49] Hein, Westdeutsche und Dritte Welt, 139–47, 152.

[50] Speech of Eppler before the Friedrich Ebert Foundation on 29 June 1969, attached to Amembassy Bonn A-727, cit.

[51] Hein Westdeutschen und Dritte Welt, 154. For an account of influences of third-worldism on youth political culture in the West see Garavini, ‘Confronto Nord-Sud’, 69–76 and ‘Colonies Strike Back’.

[52] White, Politics of Foreign Aid, 211.

[53] The text is now available at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum_en.html.

[54] Grilli, European Community; Migani, ‘Politique de cooperation européenne’.

[55] See on the Pearson Report http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/EXTARCHIVES/0,contentMDK:20121526∼pagePK:36726∼piPK:36092∼theSitePK:29506,00.html.

[56] Konzept der Bundesregierung, 11 February 1971 and Eppler, Wenig Zeit, 33.

[57] In PA AA, B58 IIIB1 850.

[58] Danielson and Wohlgemuth, ‘Swedish Development Cooperation’; on Norway see Pharo, ‘Altruism, Security and Impact of Oil’.

[59] The Federal Republic was asked by the Netherlands to be a partner in a ‘catalyser group’ together with Yugoslavia, Tunisia, Chile, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Canada, Sweden, and France. See Vom bevollmächtigten Gesandten MD Dumke am 11.7.1969, in PA AA B1 384.

[60] Amembassy Bonn A-727, cit.

[61] Teil-Niederschrift über die Staatssekretär-Besprechung vom 10. Dezember 1970, cit.

[62] See on this Hofmeier, ‘Möglichkeiten und Grenzen’.

[63] Hein, Westdeutschen und Dritte Welt, 306.

[64] See ‘30 Jahre GTZ. Interview mit Erhard Eppler’, http://www.gtz.de/de/top-themen/7222.htm.

[65] Schulz, Development Policy, 106; Erler, Tödliche Hilfe.

[66] ‘Kraftspritze für die Dritte Welt’, in Die Zeit, 4 April 1969 –quoted as in Eppler, Einsprüche, 116–22.

[67] Eppler, Wenig Zeit, 98. Wischnewski reportedly stressed a similar concept, stressing the benefits of aid for West German business while pleading for higher amounts of FRG aid; see Amconsul Bremen to State Department, A-22, 31 August 1967 in NARA, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, box 440.

[68] The following examples are taken from the reports on Ethiopia, Somalia, and Guinea, respectively in Überprüfung der Ergebnisse der deutschen Entwicklungshilfe, Anlage zu Bericht Nr. 509/69 vom 29.5.69 Wi IIB1-80 PA AA IIIB1 869; Überprüfung der Ergebnisse der deutschen Entwicklungshilfe, Mogadischu 26 April 1969, p.2 in PA AA, B58 IIIB1 870; in Überprüfung der Ergebnisse der deutschen Entwicklungshilfe, Conakry, 30 Mai 1969. On FRG relations with Guinea see as well PA AA B2 198.

[69] See Lorenzini, Due Germanie, 217–21.

[70] See Deutscher Bundestag, 5. Wahlperiode, Bonn, den 18. Juni 1968.

[71] Rede auf den Afrika-Informationstag des Afrika-Vereins, Bulletin 28 January 1972, 105–7.

[72] The concept of civilian power is ongoingly debated by the scholars of international relations departing from Hedley Bull's criticism of Europe as a civilian power.

[73] An den persönlichen Referenten des Herrn Sts Lahr, LRI Graf York von Wartenburg, 13 December 1968, and Bericht 13. Februar 1969, Sts. Lahr, Betr. Sambia; in PA AA B2 198.

[74] In 1968, a West German consortium was created for the construction of a dam project in Cabora Bassa, in the Portuguese colony Mozambique. The project was financed with significant Hermes credits. The consortium ZAMCO included the German companies Siemens, AEG/Telefunken, Brown Boveri, Vith Heidenheim, Hoch-Tief AG Essen – see Engel, Afrikapolitik, 58.

[75] See Monatliche Konsultation der Leiter des politischen Abteilung der beiden Aussenministerien, 21 September 1970 in PA AA B2 922. See also Amebassy Lusaka, Tel-135, 16 August 1971, NARA, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967-1969, box 441.

[76] Del Pero, Henry Kissinger, 47–9, 52.

[77] Letter From President Nixon to Secretary of State Rogers Washington, 12 April 1969, FRUS, Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Volume IV, Foreign Assistance, International Development, Trade Policies, 1969–1972, International Development Policy, 1969-1972, doc. 109 in http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/iv/15573.htm.

[78] Documents on the preparation and on the consequences of the National Security Study Memorandum (NSSM) 4 concerning US Foreign aid policy of the 21 January 1969 are in NARA, Nixon Presidential Material Project, NSC files, H-Files, H-128; quotation from the Action Memorandum From the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon, in FRUS 1969–1972, doc. 5, in http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/iv/15558.htm; see also National Security Study Memorandum 45/1/Washington, 21 April 1969, U.S. Foreign Aid, doc. 111.

[79] Some years later the same idea was put into practice by East Germany through Werner Lamberz; see Döring, ‘Es geht um unsere Existenz’.

[80] Politik der Partner, 35.

[81] On the rigidity of East German attitude see especially Winrow, GDR in Africa, 19–23.

[82] The expression was coined by Oliver Bange in ‘On the path to a social-democratic Europe - Trans-European aspects of Brandt's Ostpolitik’, paper given at the conference ‘Western Europe from the Golden Age to the Age of Uncertainty 1965–1975’, Trento, 26–27 May 2007.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sara Lorenzini

Sara Lorenzini is Assistant Professor at the University of Trento (Italy). She is currently working on the edition of Alcide De Gasperi's Complete Works and writing a history of development aid during the Cold War. Her latest book is L'Italia e il trattato di pace del 1947 (Bologna: Il Mulino 2007).