ABSTRACT
This chapter describes Soviet analyses of developments in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) during the 1980s. These analyses are related to the Soviet public diplomacy effort in West Germany. The chapter evaluates West German reactions to this Soviet public diplomacy effort. The evolution of Soviet public diplomacy toward West Germany illustrates the general trends in Soviet public diplomacy. According to Soviet analysts, the Europeanization of security policy has been used increasingly by the West Germans to justify an enhancement of their role in the Western Alliance. Soviet commentary on West German economic policy includes three principal themes. First, the West German economy is the most important one in Western Europe. Second, the weight given economic considerations is consistently the most important factor in shaping overall West German government policy. And third, the FRG is the most important Western trading partner of the Soviet Union.
