Imperial overstretch: Germany in Soviet policy from Stalin to Gorbachev: an analysis based on new archival evidence, memoirs, and interviews
In: Internationale Politik und Sicherheit volume 48
Cover -- PREFACE -- Persisting Myths -- 'Imperial Overstretch' under Putin -- 'Eastern Europe' -- Personal Background and Thanks -- Transliteration of Russian Terms -- INTRODUCTION -- Sources of Evidence -- PART ONE: THE SOVIET EMPIRE -- Chapter 1: Theoretical and Conceptual Considerations -- 1. Conceptual Approaches -- 2. Metrocentric Approaches -- 3. Pericentric Approaches -- 4. International Systemic and Structural Approaches -- 5. Transnational Approaches -- 6. An Integrative Approach -- PART TWO: EXPANSION -- Chapter 2: The Imperial and Ideological Paradigm -- 1. Parameters of the Paradigm. -- The Ideological Dimension The Imperial Dimension -- 2. The Division of Germany: Design or Default? -- Option One: The 'Revolutionary Transformation' of Germany -- Option Two: Emasculation of Germany -- Option Three: Division and Dismemberment -- Option Four: Neutralization of Germany -- 3. The Paradigm Applied: East Germany and Eastern Europe -- 4. The Impact of the Berlin Blockade and the Korean War -- 5. Stalin's 1952 'Peace Note': Lost Opportunity or Political Manoeuvre? -- 6. Imperial Dilemmas: Beria and the Crisis in the GDR -- 7. Imperial Dilemmas: The Berlin Wall. -- 8. Consolidation of the Soviet Empire and the 'Correlation of Forces' 9. Soviet Responses to West Germany's Ostpolitik -- 10. Soviet Responses to East Germany's Assertiveness -- Chapter 3: The Comprehensive Crisis of Empire -- 1. The Crisis of Ideology -- 2. Military Power and Declining Political Influence -- 3. Declining Economic Performance and the Costs of Empire -- The Military-Industrial Complex and the Challenge of SDI -- 4. The Domestic Political Crisis -- 5. The Impact of the Crisis on Soviet-East German Relations -- 6. The Impact of the Crisis on Soviet-West German Relations. -- 7. Debts, Dependency, and Intra-German Relations 8. Pravda Articles of Faith -- 9. The Chernenko-Honecker Emergency Meeting in Moscow -- Chernenko's Response: The Empire Strikes Back -- The Ustinov-Honecker Exchanges -- The Gorbachev-Honecker Exchanges -- Summary -- PART FOUR: COLLAPSE -- Chapter 4: Gorbachev's Old and New Thinking -- 1. The Paradigm of New Thinking -- 2. Gorbachev: A Political Profile -- 3. Gorbachev's Perceptions of the German Problem -- 4. East Germany: Strategic Ally but Waning Economic Asset -- The GDR in Gorbachev's Economic Strategy. -- Political Aspects of Soviet-East German Relations 5. West Germany: Troublesome Tenant in Gorbachev's 'Common House of Europe' -- The Common House of Europe -- 6. Priority for the Relations with the United States -- 7. German Unification in a 'Hundred Years' -- German Unity: 'In a Hundred Years'? -- 8. Gorbachev and Eastern Europe: Decline of the Will to Empire -- The Demise of the Brezhnev Doctrine -- Soviet-East German Relations: Deference versus Defiance -- Summary -- Chapter 5: Domestic Implications of Gorbachev's German Policy -- 1. The Institutional Setting