WEST GERMANY'S EASTERN POLICY AND NEW DIMENSIONS OF ITS FOREIGN POLICY DEVELOPMENT FROM 1969 TO 1974

In 1969, for the first time in the post-war history of divided Germany, the power was assumed by a different political subject than that of the CDU/ CSU. The coalition of Social and Liberal Democrats, led by the Chancellor Willy Brandt, took on this challenge in the period when the West German foreign affairs policy was losing its ability to solve new problems concerning the development in Europe and in the world. It launched a difficult transformation process of changes that resulted in a more realistic approach to its new Eastern policy (Ostpolitik). As a result, West Germany gained greater global influence that enabled more space for its political manoeuvring and a better position within the Western Bloc.