ABSTRACT
West German foreign policy from 1949 to 1989 rested on one pillar: the firm inclusion in the free societies of the West, namely the European Community and the Atlantic Alliance. In the 1970s, the treaties and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) process were instituted against the heavy opposition of the conservatives in Germany. Since unification German foreign policy has appeared disoriented. Eastern Europe and many of the former republics of the former Soviet Union are connected with the West with some success through the CSCE, the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, and the special treaties of the European Community. Realism is needed not only with regard to our own country, but also with regard to Eastern Europe and in the Commonwealth of Independent States. It would be a terrible mistake if we took the signature of CSCE obligations as a guaranty for pluralistic democracy, for effective renunciation of force, and for human and minority rights.
