West Germany and Namibia’s Path to Independence, 1969–1990

Title: West Germany and Namibia’s Path to Independence, 1969–1990
Subtitle: Foreign Policy and Rivalry with East Germany
Author: Thorsten Kern
Series: Basel Namibia Studies Series, 21
Publisher: Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Basel, Switzerland 2019
ISBN 9783906927169 / ISBN 978-3-906927-16-9
Softcover, 17 x 24 cm, 284 pages

Condition:

Very good, like new.

About: West Germany and Namibia’s Path to Independence, 1969–1990

Namibia’s main liberation movement, the South West Af-rica People’s Organisation (SWAPO), relied heavily on outside support for its armed struggle against South Africa’s occupation of what it called South West Africa. While East Germany’s solidarity with Namibia’s struggle for national self-determination has received attention, little research has been done on West Germany’s policy towards Namibia, which must be seen in the light of inter-German rivalry. The impact of the wider realities of the Cold War on Namibia’s rocky path to independence leaves ample room for research and new interpretations. In West Germany and Namibia’s Path to Independence, 1969–1990, Thorsten Kern shows that German division played a vital role in West Germany’s position towards Namibia during the Cold War. The two states’ deeply diverging policies, characterised in this context by competition for influence over SWAPO, were strongly affected by the Cold War rivalry between the capitalist West and the communist East. Yet ultimately, the dynamics of rapprochement helped to bring about Namibia’s independence. West Germany and Namibia’s Path to Independence, 1969–1990, is based upon a doctoral dissertation presented to the University of Cape Town in 2016. Thorsten Kern conducted research in the National Archives of Namibia and in German archives, and his work draws on interviews with contemporary witnesses.

Content: West Germany and Namibia’s Path to Independence, 1969–1990

Foreword by Chris Saunders
Preface
Introduction
The origins of rivalry over Namibia
East Germany's solidarity with African liberation movements
Ostpolitik: The two German states' rivalry in Namibia
Instruments of Foreign Policy
Political Parties and SWAPO
West Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
Free Democratic Party (FDP)
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU)
The Green Party
East Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
SWAPO: the Bundestag and the Foreign Office
The Bundestag
The Kohl government in the Bundestag in the early 1980s
The Foreign Office
The decision-making process regarding Namibia
The Germans of Namibia
East and West German rivalry: the mid-to-late 1970s
The controversy over West Germany's consulate in Windhoek
West Germany's cultural programme with South Africa and Namibia
West Germany's relations with South Africa in the late 1970s
East and West Germany's Intensification of Relations with SWAPO in the late 1970s
East and West German rivalry: the early to mid-1980s
The mid-1980s: the Kohl government and the Namibia question
The mid-to late 1980s
Non-governmental organisations and West Germany's policy towards Namibia
The late 1980s: The two Germanys and Namibia
The two German states' involvement in the UNTAG mission in Namibia between 1989 and 1990
Conclusion
List of Abbreviations
Bibliography
Index