Home › Books & Reviews › Capsule Reviews › From Occupation To Cooperation: The United States And United Germany In A Changing World Order

From Occupation To Cooperation: The United States And United Germany In A Changing World Order

Edited by Steven Muller and Gebhard Schweigler
Reviewed by Gregory F. Treverton
Fall 1992
From Occupation To Cooperation: The United States And United Germany In A Changing World Order
Edited by Steven Muller and Gebhard Schweigler
Norton
1992
288 pp.
$24.95
Login or Register to leave a comment.

The contributors to this American Assembly-Atlantik Brücke volume could hardly be more distinguished, ranging from Paul Nitze, a founder of the German-American connection, to Robert Blackwill, who recently managed it. By its nature this nicely edited volume contains more good sense than striking innovation, but there is plenty of insight: Karl Kaiser on "domesticism"-the temptations of both America and Germany to turn inward; Christoph Bertram on the spill-back of troubles in Europe's east to its west, Germany in particular; and Robert Blackwill on the near inevitability that America's influence over Europe's security will wane despite its continuing value.

Related

Essay, Mar/Apr 1998
The Remaking of Eurasia
Valery V. Tsepkalo

Russia's post-Soviet orientation is in serious trouble. The West does not want to see any structure in Eurasia that permits Russian hegemony, but abetting continued chaos in the former Soviet space is hardly in the West's interest. Central Asia and the Caucasus are rife with flash points that could ignite and draw in outside powers, and the presence of nuclear weapons raises the stakes even higher. The United States should support integration, not division. For its part, Russia should work with nearby countries to help unite diverse peoples in a stabler system.

Read
Essay, Summer 1985
The Postwar Era: The Eagle and the Bear
James Schlesinger

The linkup of American and Soviet forces at Torgau on the Elbe in April 1945 may be taken as the event symbolizing a new era in international relations--one largely dominated by the central relationship between two great powers, later known as the superpowers. The meeting at Torgau meant the splitting of Germany, the preeminent European power for three-quarters of a century. Germany's division was to be both a fixture of the postwar era and, additionally, a continuing source of unease. Also, the event dramatically initiated what was to become die Wacht an der Elbe, an American protection against the power of the East of what was to become a democratic Germany--and behind Germany an abiding American commitment to the security of Western Europe. Despite the misjudgments in the immediate aftermath of the war, the lessons of two world wars had been insinuated into American foreign policy. Finally, in the way of symbolism, perhaps the brief exchange of fire between Soviet and American forces on the Elbe provided an early harbinger of the tensions that were ultimately to emerge.

Read
Essay, Sep/Oct 2003
Rebuilding the Atlantic Alliance
Ronald D. Asmus

Despite the myriad setbacks of recent months, the U.S.-European alliance is not doomed. But repairing it will require a strategic overhaul no less bold than that which followed the end of the Cold War. The key to today's transatlantic divide is not power but purpose. To revive and revamp the alliance, therefore, the United States and the European Union must forge a new grand strategy capable of meeting the great challenges of the era: expanding the Euro-Atlantic community and stabilizing the greater Middle East.

Read
Cover image

In the Magazine

November/December 2009 / 6, 88
Essay
The Dollar and the Deficits
C. Fred Bergsten

The global economic crisis has revealed the folly of large U.S. budget and trade deficits, as well as of the strong dollar that makes them possible. If it is serious about recovery, the United States must balance the budget, stimulate private saving, and embrace a declining dollar.
Read