ABSTRACT
In winning the difficult domestic debate concerning the contours of West Germany's role between East and West, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer successfully steered a course of Western integration led under largely American auspices, seeking to exact in this process, "the highest political price for voluntaiy collaboration. There is no doubt that the Federal Republic of Germany occupies a very different position between East and West than it did in the late 1940s and 1950s. The issues that foster debate concern West Germany's role in the East-West relationship and an explanation of how that role evolved. What establishes the alliance as a regime is that it was intended from the start to prescribe the limits within which its members could act in areas of security commonly established. These historical origins of the Western security regime will be covered briefly. The years 1963-1969 represented a period of transition in the Western security regime.
