ABSTRACT
The governments of West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) have long sought to preserve West Berlin's economic vitality. Berlin is surrounded by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and is closer to Poland than to West Germany. The GDR has capitalized on this spatial isolation in order to pressure West Berlin and its citizens. This chapter argues that the increase in West Berlin-GDR trade and cooperation provides needed relief from many of the economic difficulties that burden the GDR, while at the same time bolstering the prospects of West Berlin. Even if GDR's political or human rights concessions represent embarrassing surrenders of sovereignty, it tolerates this interference because of its debt, energy, and technology problems. The chapter also focuses on the impressive recent arrest of West Berlin's economic decline and on a surprisingly independent spirit shown by Berlin's political leadership.
