Economic Interdependence as a Strategy: German Ostpolitik Since the Late 1960s

Abstract

Most Functionalist assumptions of economic interdependence center around the idea that ‘free trade’ has a propensity to peace, and since the maintenance of peace is considered the ultimate foreign policy goal, economic relations are appraised positively. However, occasionally ‘free trade’ is not sufficient. Since the desired web of economic ties between East and West can not be woven without overcoming several serious political and economic barriers, economic interdependence has also been pursued as a specific political strategy by consciously stimulating trade. When East-West trade needs some governmental activity in order to gain momentum, be it by government guarantees of credits, the conclusion of trade treaties or by a favorable, relaxed political atmosphere, the conscious guidance and stimulation of interbloc commerce may become the central element of Western economic doctrine. As we have seen in Chapter 4, such Western strategies of economic interdependence were sometimes reminiscent of providing ‘pure aid’, without an equivalent anticipated political counterperformance. Yet, there are several other Western economic policies which foresaw substantial political benefits accruing from intensified East-West economic relations. Based on the assumption that ‘free trade’ (in the sense of ‘intensified trade’) among nations would in time lead up to political conciliation, commerce between East and West has been enthusiastically promoted in order to reap these kind of ‘peace dividends’.