Journal article
Dead or dormant? German 'Ostpolitik' after Ukraine
- Abstract:
-
Germany’s 2022 Zeitenwende (watershed) has been widely interpreted as a break with Berlin’s decades-long attempts to offer security ‘with rather than against Russia’. In the 1970s, West Germany’s social democrat-led government had embarked on Ostpolitik (Eastern policy) as a way of normalising relations with the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and other Soviet satellites by fostering closer economic ties with Moscow. This policy was extended by subsequent governments and even endured, though in new form, after the fall of the Berlin wall. Ostpolitik is now commonly seen to have culminated in a Kremlin-friendly political landscape and an economy dependent on Russian gas. More than two years after Zeitenwende, the jury is still out as to whether Ostpolitik has been dismantled or simply remains on hold. This article shows that although German politics has experienced a seismic shift since the invasion, forces of continuity remain in operation. Ostpolitik was always in part the symptom of a desire to do realpolitik in Europe. This urge is unlikely to disappear.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 973.6KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1017/eis.2024.58
Authors
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/0302b4677
- Grant:
- MCFSS23\230111
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Journal:
- European Journal of International Security More from this journal
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 4
- Pages:
- 495 - 511
- Publication date:
- 2025-01-07
- Acceptance date:
- 2024-11-29
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2057-5645
- ISSN:
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2057-5637
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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2078847
- Local pid:
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pubs:2078847
- Deposit date:
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2025-01-16
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Ian Klinke
- Copyright date:
- 2025
- Rights statement:
- © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The British International Studies Association. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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