East Germany and the Warsaw Alliance: The Politics of Detente

Bonn's Ostpolitik caught East Germany between two equally undesirable alternatives: to reject Bonn's initiative and face isolation within the Warsaw Pact alliance, or to accept the initiative and risk endangering status and security. Moreton examines this dilemma, reconstructing the shifts and adjustments in policy, within the larger context of alliance cohesion and conflicting national interests. Carefully done and informative.