"Willy Brandt and the Americas, 1972-1992"

International conference in Berlin

Fri, 6/10/2016, 9:00 am to Sat, 6/11/2016, 1:15 pm
Friedrich-Ebert-Siftung
Haus 2
Hiroshimastraße 28
10785 Berlin
Germany

 

Visitors are welcome.

Please register until
June 3, 2016 by mail
info@willy-brandt.de
or phone
+49 (0)30 787 707 0 

 

Logo: Bundeskanzler-Willy-Brandt-Stiftung (BWBS)

 

Logo: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)

 

Logo: German Historical Institute (GHI) Washington, DC

Willy Brandt remained active in foreign policy beyond his resignation as Chancellor in 1974. Among his objectives as elder statesman were his attempts to turn Social Democracy and the European continent into serious global players. Brandt did not wish to leave peace and security to the superpowers. For this endeavor he was keen on finding new partners in the “Third World”, in particular in Latin America and the Caribbean. Brandt’s efforts frequently led to conflicts with the U.S. administration. After all, for the first time in its history the Socialist International (SI) began to support the armed fight of liberation movements and opposed Washington’s view that all conflicts in Latin America were due to the Cold War between the superpowers. These disputes and controversies soon caused problems for West German foreign policy. 

New global challenges occurred in the course of the events of 1989–1991. This time Brandt largely agreed with Washington’s policy and support for the unfolding process of German unification. He was less enamored by the Bush administration’s insistence to resolve the Kuwait crisis of 1991 by military means. This first Gulf War strengthened Willy Brandt’s endeavors to influence the debate about a new world order that for him included an enhanced role for the United Nations.

With Oliver Bange, Dieter Dettke, Nikolas Dörr, Mónica Fonseca, Mathias Haeussler, Jan Hansen, John Kornblum, Scott Krause, Judith Michel, Fernando Pedrosa, Christian Salm, Wolfgang Schmidt, Pierre Schori, Reimund Seidelmann, and Konrad Sziedat. The convenors are Bernd Rother and Klaus Larres.

The conference language is English.

For more information please see here.

The conference is organized by the Bundeskanzler-Willy-Brandt-Stiftung, Berlin, and is supported by the German Historical Institute Washington DC, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Berliner Kolleg Kalter Krieg | Berlin Center for Cold War Studies.